Kiesen

Kiesen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a neolithic stone ax which was found at Rotachen. Other prehistoric finds include scattered late-Bronze Age items and tools and Roman coins. The village Kiesen is first mentioned in 1236 as Chisun. At that time much of the village was owned by Interlaken Abbey. Beginning in the 14th century, it was owned by several noble families from the city of Bern. In 1579, a fire destroyed most of the buildings in the village. In 1668 a wealthy family built a country manor house on the remains of a medieval castle on the edge of the village. It passed through a couple of hands before the Effinger family of Wildegg bought it in 1776. In 1793 they rebuilt the manor house into its current appearance. In 1815, Rudolf Emanuel Effinger, built a dairy and cheese maker's shop on the estate's grounds. This was the first cheese maker in the Canton of Bern. The estate dairy encouraged farmers throughout the Canton to switch to dairy farming during the 19th century and led to the development of the cheese industry in Bern. The estate was rebuilt and renovated and sold to the Dollfus family of Volckersberg, who held it until 1993. The estate dairy became the Dairy Museum in 1974.

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