BURGDORF, an industrial town in the Swiss canton of Berne, on the left bank of the Emme, 14m. N.E. of Berne. (Fr. Berthoud). The lower (or modern) town is connected by a spiral street with the old town, picturesquely perched on a hill (1,942ft. above sea-level or 167ft. above the river), crowned by the 15th century parish church and by the ancient castle in which Pesta lozzi set up his educational establishment between 1799 and 1804. Cheese of the Emmenthal is an article of trade, and there are railway works, and factories of cloth, white lead and tinfoil. Burgdorf has a cantonal technical institute. In 1920 the popula tion was 9,447, practically all Protestants and German-speaking. A fine view of the Bernese Alps is obtained from the castle, which dates from the days of the dukes of Zaringen (Ilth—I2th centuries), the last of whom (Berchtold V.) built walls round the town, and granted it a charter+ of liberties. Castle and town were sold, together with Thun, in 1384, to the town of Berne, whose bailiffs ruled in the castle till 1798.