Map - Tavannes

Tavannes is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking part of the canton in the Jura mountains.

The area around Tavannes was traversed by the early inhabitants of the Helvetic plain because of the natural tunnel through the Jura between the valley of the Suze and the valley of the Birse. Under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Romans improved this road between 161 and 169 AD. The Roman administrator left an inscription in the cliff at Pierre-Pertuis to this effect.

Early mills were built along the Birse, utilizing its water as a source of power. Tavannes was one of the earliest inhabited locations in the district. Its name comes from the ancient Germanic words 'Þahs-winja, ancien haut allemand dahs, germanique *þahsu, « blaireau », et gothique vinja, germanique *venjô, « pâturage » [Perrenot]. ',which means the same as the older German name 'Dachsfelden'.

In the fourth century, as the Roman Empire crumbled, the Burgundians moved into the area around Tavannes. In 630, a monastery was established at Moutier-Grandval, and Tavannes belonged to its possessions.

The first mention of Tavannes (or its Latin equivalent Theisvenna) dates to 866. In 999, King Rudolph III of Burgundy gave the monastery of Moutier-Grandval and all its possessions to the Prince-Bishop of Basel. At Rudolph's death, the district passed into the Holy Roman Empire, to which it belonged for 760 years.

In the spring of 1530, Guillaume Farel preached the Reformation in Tavannes and surrounding areas, with great success. When Tavannes accepted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation, the village church of Saint-Etienne, which was built in 1385, became a Reformed church and remained the only church in Tavannes until the Catholic Church of Christ-Roi was built in 1930.

After the French Revolution, the French Republican Army invaded the district in 1792 and forcibly recruited local soldiers to its ranks. Some were enthusiastic, among them Théophile Voirol, who after rapid promotions, became a general. He later became a French noble and Governor of Algeria.

After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Tavannes became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Tavannes was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. The city government was not established until after the Bishopric of Basel was dissolved in 1797.

The municipality was connected to the growing railroad network in 1874 and by the 1890s was home to several large factories. The establishment of the Tavannes Watch Co. in 1895 turned the village into a major watchmaking center. To house the growing population a number of Swiss chalet and Art nouveau style houses were built between 1900 and 1930. The Royal Cinema opened in 1918 and turned Tavannes into regional cultural center. The population dropped in 1966 when the Tavannes Watch factory closed and dropped again in 1986 when a major manufacturer closed. The population began to slowly increase with the construction of the A16 motorway.