History of the villages of the Sarine district (Fribourg)
The 82 documented localities of the Sarine district, in the canton of Fribourg. Each page covers the origin of the name, the main stages of its history and its remains, with sources.
Towns and villages 72
Arconciel
On a spur above the Sarine, the castle town of Arconciel received a charter of liberties in 1271. A century later the castle and the houses lay in ruins.
FRAutafond
In 1716 the architect Joseph Rossier built the manor of Chenaleyres and its chapel for himself, on the lands of Autafond.
FRAutigny
Destroyed with the village in the fire of 1545, the church of Saint-Maurice at Autigny was rebuilt ten years later, then replaced in 1830-1831 by the present building.
FRAvry
A Migros shopping centre opened in 1973 in this village, which had 411 inhabitants in 1950. Avry-sur-Matran and Corjolens formed the municipality of Avry here in 2001.
FRBelfaux
Around 1470 the church of Belfaux burned down and only its great 13th-century wooden crucifix escaped the flames. Pilgrims then flocked to the shrine.
FR · Merger 2021Bois-d'Amont
In February 2020, 81.8 % of voters in Arconciel, Ependes and Senèdes agreed to form a single municipality, named after a forest massif, the Bois d'Amont.
FRBonnefontaine
Around 1149, Marie de Bonnefontaine and her son granted Hauterive Abbey their clearing rights in the royal forests. The church of 1894, dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, draws pilgrims.
FRBourguillon
In the Middle Ages Fribourg sent its lepers to the hill of Bourguillon. The chapel of their leper house, rebuilt in 1464-1466, has drawn pilgrims to Notre-Dame since the 15th century.
FRChénens
In the 14th century Bern, Fribourg and the count of Savoy made Chénens, « media via », the place where disputes between Fribourg people and subjects of the Vaud were settled.
FRChésalles
On 2 January 1976, by the Copy stream, the boundary stone between Chésalles and Marly was levered out, and the two mayors then planted an oak.
FRChésopelloz
In 1317 Nicolas d'Estavayer handed Chésopelloz and all its land to the abbey of Hauterive, in exchange for the farm of Cugy.
FRCorjolens
With just 64 inhabitants in 1850, Corjolens had a German-language Reformed school from 1865, which did not close until 1974.
FRCormagens
In 1148, Guy d'Ependes gave the abbey of Hauterive all his freehold land at Cormagens. The village keeps a chapel of Saint Theodulus founded in 1493.
FRCorminboeuf
At Bois Murat, a large burial mound of the 6th century BC yielded nineteen sheet-bronze plates. Corminboeuf took in Nonan in 1831, then Chésopelloz in 2017.
FRCorpataux
A La Tène grave found at Corpataux held a Helvetian gold coin. In the 19th century the suspension bridge at La Tuffière remained a toll bridge until 1911.
FRCorsalettes
The Bernese plundered Corsalettes during the Gümmenen war of 1331-1333. Compensated, the lords of Estavayer sold the village to the count of Neuchâtel ten years later.
FRCorserey
Set on fire by Fribourg troops in 1448, Corserey was left out in 1481, when Prez and Noréaz joined the Confederation together with Fribourg.
FRCottens
In 1986 Cottens put into service a natural sewage plant with artificial aeration, presented as unique in Switzerland. Fifteen years earlier the village was still rural.
FRCutterwil
In the 16th and 17th centuries the small village of Cutterwil often quarrelled with Grolley, Misery and Belfaux over pastures and the upkeep of roads.
FREcuvillens
Guillaume de Glâne, lord of Ecuvillens and last of his line, founded the abbey of Hauterive and had the stones of his castle carried there.
FREpendes
The church of Saint-Étienne in Ependes stands on the remains of a Roman settlement, where a silver coin from the year 79 was found.
FREssert
The small village of Essert has had three names, Sartarie, Ried and then Essert. In 1727 its people paid a quarter of the expenses of the parish of Treyvaux.
FREstavayer-le-Gibloux
A priest was already serving here in 1157/62, and the parish took in Rueyres-Saint-Laurent, Villarsel and Villarlod. In 1903 a Roman villa came to light in the village.
FRFarvagny-le-Grand
After Pont castle fell into ruin, the Fribourg bailiffs moved in 1617 to Farvagny-le-Grand, into a courthouse turned into a castle. From 1803 to 1848 the village was a district capital.
FRFarvagny-le-Petit
Three Hallstatt-period burial mounds mark the territory of Farvagny-le-Petit. In 1314 the village was sold to the great hospital of Fribourg.
FRFerpicloz
Proposed to the Fribourg Council in 1626, the Ferpicloz tile works ran from 1630 to 1971 and kept the village going, above all after 1895.
FRFormangueires
In 1834 Formangueires no longer had enough burghers to form lawful authorities. The village therefore asked to be united with Lossy, and the two have never separated since.
FR · TownFribourg
Berthold IV of Zähringen founded the town in 1157 on a spur above a bend of the Sarine. In 1435 its workshops produced 14'000 pieces of cloth.
FR · Merger 2016Gibloux
Launched with six municipalities in 2007, the project lost Hauterive in 2013. The other five voted yes on 30 November 2014 and formed Gibloux on 1 January 2016.
FRGivisiez
As early as 1951 Givisiez, a pioneer in the field, adopted a land-use plan. The manor the d'Affry family built here in 1539 is now a home for the elderly.
FRGranges-Paccot
Separated from Givisiez in 1793, Granges-Paccot saw two railway lines cross its territory in the 19th century, including the one over the Grandfey viaduct, yet no station served it.
FRGrenilles
As early as 929 the abbey of Saint-Maurice granted Turimbert the use of its lands at Grenilles. Long before, Hallstatt-period fortifications stood on the site.
FRGrolley
On 7 January 1847, women of Grolley stood up to a free corps from Estavayer. A lithograph by Louis-Joseph Schmid captured the scene.
FR · Merger 2025Grolley-Ponthaux
Since 1 January 2025 Grolley-Ponthaux has united two municipalities that were themselves born of mergers. In Grolley a first project had failed in 2015, by 16 votes.
FR · Merger 2001Hauterive
In 2001 Ecuvillens and Posieux united under the name of the Cistercian abbey of Hauterive, which has stood on their territory since 1138.
FRIllens
In 1930 Illens had only 7 inhabitants and was said to be the smallest municipality in Switzerland. The ruins of its castle rise above the Sarine.
FR · Merger 2001La Brillaz
La Brillaz is named after a chapel and a forest that lie mostly in the neighbouring municipality of Prez, a choice that caused controversy.
FRLa Corbaz
In 1294, Nicolas d'Englisberg sold La Corbaz, Lossy and Formangueires to his brother Wilhelm and to Jean dit de Vuippens. The village already had its small chapel of the Nativity of Mary.
FR · Merger 2004La Sonnaz
La Corbaz, Cormagens and Lossy-Formangueires held on to the name La Sonnaz, while the nomenclature commission proposed calling the new municipality Lossy.
FR · Merger 2003Le Mouret
To name their municipality, six villages chose Le Mouret, a place that lies partly in neighbouring Ferpicloz. Ferpicloz gave its consent on 23 April 2002.
FRLentigny
From 1869 to 1931 the Lentigny brickworks employed about a hundred people and fired its bricks for three days, at around 1000 °C, in a kiln some hundred metres long.
FRLossy
The mill of Lossy stood until 1991. Demolished that year, it lives on in the paddle wheel of the La Sonnaz coat of arms, whose administration is based in the village.
FRLovens
In 1947 Lovens demanded a direct road to Onnens, estimated at 90'000 francs. In 1950 the village left the school district and opened its own school, which closed in 1963.
FRMagnedens
The Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem probably founded a commandery at Magnedens as early as 1156, merged with that of Fribourg in 1229. Having no church, the village depended on Ecuvillens.
FRMarly
A renowned paper mill worked on the Gérine from 1411 to 1921. In 1963 Ciba-Geigy set up a research and development centre for photography in Marly.
FRMarly-le-Petit
From 1963 Marly-le-Petit let its German-speaking pupils attend the German classes in Fribourg, seven years before the rest of the municipality of Marly.
FRMatran
The church of Saint-Julien in Matran long served a whole parish, from which Posieux broke away in 1590 and Neyruz in 1844. It burned in 1651 and rose again, enlarged.
FRMontécu
From 1884 to 1982 Montécu was joined to Bonnefontaine for administration. The two municipalities merged in 1989.
FRMontévraz
From 1805 to 1816 Trappist nuns lived in the château of the Petite Riedera at Montévraz. The diocese, which received it as a bequest in 1838, made it its summer residence.
FRNeyruz (FR)
On 25 February 1138 Ulrich de Neyruz and his son Joranus witnessed the dedication of the first church of the abbey of Hauterive, which would become the village's great landowner.
FRNierlet-les-Bois
In Nierlet-les-Bois the Gottrau family owned a castle, destroyed by fire in 1870, and a chapel of Saint-Gorgon built in 1599.
FRNoréaz
On the shore of the lake of Seedorf, the Neolithic village of En Praz des Gueux, in Noréaz, is one of the 56 Swiss pile-dwelling sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
FROberried
With no candidates standing for election, Oberried was placed under state administration from 1942 to 1973. On its Sonnenwil estate, a farming school came before the House of the Holy Family.
FROnnens
In 1078 the marriage of Rilenta of Walperswil brought the fief of Onnens to the de Glâne family. In the 12th century Guillaume de Glâne ceded it to the abbey of Hauterive.
FRPierrafortscha
Pierrafortscha takes its name from the « forked stone », an erratic boulder of 330 m³ of Mont Blanc granite, where Mesolithic hunters once stopped.
FRPonthaux
In 1447, during the war against Savoy, the Fribourgers set fire to Ponthaux, a village of the lordship of Montagny. In 1478 they became its lords.
FRPosat
Between 1137 and 1148 a certain Pierre and his brothers gave a large part of their land at Posat to the abbey of Humilimont. The chapel rebuilt by the Jesuits in 1675 drew pilgrims in the 18th century.
FRPosieux
On 24 May 1852 some 15'000 Fribourgers opposed to the Radical regime gathered at Posieux. A chapel on the Sapex hill recalls that day.
FRPraroman
In 1644 Praroman became the seat of a parish that split five neighbouring villages from that of Ependes. Its church had just been built, from 1637 to 1639.
FR · Merger 2020Prez
Less than a year after launching the project, Corserey, Noréaz and Prez-vers-Noréaz voted to merge and took the name Prez, that of their old parish.
FRPrez-vers-Noréaz
The country house the Fégely family built after 1746 served as the village school from 1891 to 1969, then became the home of the Prez savings bank.
FRRossens
More than 500 workers built the Rossens dam from 1944 to 1948, and twelve of them lost their lives. Its 83 m wall holds back the Lake of Gruyère.
FRRueyres-Saint-Laurent
On the western slope of the Gibloux, Rueyres-Saint-Laurent keeps a chapel of St Lawrence whose origins go back to the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1900 a fire destroyed part of the village.
FRSales (Sarine)
For more than four centuries, from 1177 to 1602, the hospice of the Great St Bernard kept a priory in Sales, a small village in the parish of Ependes.
FRSenèdes
Recorded in 1233, Senèdes belonged to the lordship of Arconciel in the 13th century. In 2020 its voters accepted the merger by 74 votes to 6.
FRTreyvaux
On a peninsula above the Sarine, the old church of Saint-Pierre at Treyvaux stands on 7th-century foundations. The 1994 excavations uncovered some 600 skeletons there.
FRVillarlod
From 1940 to 1945 some fifty Polish internees worked the fields and drained the marshes of Villarlod. A Polish eagle in front of the church recalls their stay.
FR · TownVillars-sur-Glâne
Until 1852 the road from Fribourg to Bulle crossed the Glâne on the narrow tufa bridge of Sainte-Apolline, next to a chapel that bears the date 1147.
FRVillarsel-le-Gibloux
In December 1447 the Fribourg forces took and burned the castle of Villarsel-le-Gibloux. The peace of 1448 set aside 900 florins to rebuild it, yet only ruins remain.
FRVillarsel-sur-Marly
In the 16th century two commanders of St John's in Fribourg assembled a large estate at Villarsel. One farm is still called the « Ferme de la Commanderie ».
FRVuisternens-en-Ogoz
A parish as early as 1228, Vuisternens-en-Ogoz was reduced to a dependency of Farvagny-le-Grand in 1453, then became a parish again in 1651.
FRZénauva
At the foot of the Cousimbert, Zénauva was called « Chinova » in 1217, « Zennauve » in 1755 and still « Chenauvaz » in the 19th century. In German it was « Schenof ».
Sites 10
Abbaye d'Hauterive
Founded between 1132 and 1137 by Guillaume de Glâne in a bend of the Sarine, Hauterive is the oldest Cistercian abbey still active in Switzerland.
FR · SiteAbbaye de la Maigrauge
Begun in 1255 by Richinza and a few companions on the banks of the Sarine, La Maigrauge was the first convent of women in Fribourg, and the only one until the 17th century.
FR · SiteBarrage de Rossens
Built from 1944 to 1948 by more than 500 workers, twelve of whom lost their lives, this 83 m arch dam closes the Sarine and holds back the Lac de la Gruyère.
FR · SiteChâteau d'Illens
Guillaume de La Baume, chamberlain to Charles the Bold, began a hunting lodge here in 1455, which Bern and Fribourg stormed in January 1475, before it was finished.
FR · SiteCouvent de Montorge
Founded in 1626 by Jacques Vallier, co-lord of Saint-Aubin, Montorge was the first convent of women opened in Fribourg during the Counter-Reformation. Its church keeps its original furnishings and an organ by Aloys Mooser of 1810.
FR · SitePont de Zaehringen et viaducs
From 1834 to 1924, Joseph Chaley's Grand Suspension Bridge crossed the Sarine at Fribourg with a 273 m span, the longest in the world. The concrete Zaehringen Bridge replaced it.
FR · SiteQuartier de l'Auge
Born at a ford in a loop of the Sarine, the Auge was fortified shortly after Fribourg was founded in 1157. The Augustinians settled here in 1255, and the Mosquito Tower guarded the Bern Bridge until the 19th century.
FR · SiteQuartier de la Neuveville
A working-class suburb founded on the Sarine in the 13th century, the Neuveville has been linked to the upper town since 1899 by a funicular driven by waste water, pushed for by the brewer Paul-Alcide Blancpain.
FR · SiteQuartier du Bourg
Fribourg's first district, the Bourg grew up in 1157 around the castle of Berthold IV of Zähringen, on a terrace so well protected by the Sarine cliffs that only its two narrow sides were fortified.
FR · SiteRuines d'Arconciel
On a spur ringed by the Sarine, the fortified town of Arconciel, recorded from 1082, lay in ruins by 1377. The 2024 excavations uncovered a forge, arrowheads and links of chain mail.