Evilard
Evilard/Leubringen is a bilingual municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district of the canton of Bern, Switzerland. The French name of the municipality is Evilard and the German name is Leubringen.
The municipality contains two separate settlements, called in French Evilard and Macolin, in German Leubringen and Magglingen, and a rural area called in French the Pré de Macolin.
The first appearance of the municipality in written documents was in 1300, under the name of Lomeringen.[3] French speakers are recorded later as using the names Evillard or es Villard ("in the town"). A number of monasteries and the Bishopric of Basel held land in this area during the Middle Ages. However, judicially and militarily the town was subordinate to the city of Biel. From 1798 to 1815, Evilard belonged to France and was part of the Canton de Bienne in the département of Mont-Terrible, which was joined with Haut-Rhin in 1800. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the town was returned to Switzerland and placed in the Canton of Bern. At first, Evilard was attached to the Oberamt Nidau; in 1832 it was placed in the Biel/Bienne district. At times, there has been debate over merging the administration with the city of Biel/Bienne; this was however rejected by the residents in 1902. Evilard is not an ecclesiastical parish. Until 1821 it was part of the church parish of Orvin, and since is combined with Biel/Bienne.[3]
Evilard lies 697 meters (2,287 ft) above sea level, and 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) north of the district capital city, Biel/Bienne, as the crow flies. The town spans a southeast-facing clearing of the front of the Jura mountains, about 300 m (980 ft) over the city of Biel. In clear weather, the view from Evilard of the Swiss plateau and the Alps from Mont Blanc to the region of Glärnisch and Alpstein is quite impressive.
The municipality reaches to the height of the anticline of Montagen de Macolin. It includes the town of Evilard, which is surrounded by Malvaux (German: Malewagwald, up to 765 m (2,510 ft) altitude). To the southwest, the municipality reaches in a narrow strip over the Magglingen to the peak of the Magglingerberg, up to the municipal high point of 1,070 m (3,510 ft).
It consists of the villages of Evilard and Macolin and the Pré de Macolin area. Macolin (German: Magglingen), lies at 875 m (2,871 ft) on the southeast slope of Magglingerberg. The neighboring municipalities are Biel/Bienne, Orvin, Lamboing, and Twann-Tüscherz.
