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Abbaye de Bellelay

Site Canton of Bern · Former district: Moutier · Former abbey in the municipality of Saicourt, with no population figure of its own
Part of the municipality of Saicourt
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Remains Legends Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Abbaye de Bellelay

The name appears in 1142 as « Bellelagie », then « Bellelagia » in 1148, « Bellelaya » around 1181 and « Balelee » in 1244. Its origin remains obscure.[1]

Founding of Abbaye de Bellelay

Canons regular of the Premonstratensian order founded the abbey around 1140, near the sources of the Sorne, in the diocese and prince-bishopric of Basel. It was placed under the patronage of Saint Imier, then of the Virgin and Saint Peter, and was a daughter house of the abbey of Lac de Joux. Bishop Ortlieb of Frohburg probably played the leading role in the foundation, and the endowment came mainly from the property of the chapter of Moutier-Grandval. Forty-two abbots are known, most of them from the regional bourgeoisie. Henri Ner, abbot around 1401-1424, was the first mitred abbot.[1][2]

History of Abbaye de Bellelay

Around 1140. Premonstratensian canons found the abbey.[1][2]

1142. A first papal bull confirms the abbey. Bishop Ortlieb of Frohburg appears in it as advocate.[1]

1255. Bellelay founds the abbey of Gottstatt, after a daughter house at Grandgourt at the end of the 12th century that soon became a priory.[1]

1303. The abbey of Porte-du-Ciel (Himmelspforte), near Wyhlen in Baden, is founded under Bellelay's oversight. In 1523 it becomes a priory of Bellelay.[1]

1414. The abbey enters a co-citizenship with Bern, lasting until the Reformation, and with Solothurn, until the Revolution. Another ties it to Biel from at least 1516 to 1606.[1]

1499. The buildings burn during the Swabian War.[1]

1508. The abbey's guesthouse is first mentioned.[2]

1580. The papal nuncio has abuses corrected. At the beginning of the 17th century Servais de Laruelle, delegate of the order, reforms the abbey.[1]

1672. Bellelay moves from the circary of Burgundy to that of Swabia.[1]

1697-1698. The old guesthouse is replaced by a large building, the Hôtel de l'Ours.[2]

1708. Abbot Jean-Georges Voirol commissions Franz Beer (1660-1726) to design a new church. The old one is demolished, except for its medieval tower, which is built into the new façade.[1][2]

1714. The abbey church is consecrated.[1][2]

1728-1738. Under Abbot Jean-Baptiste Sémon, three Baroque conventual buildings are put up around the courtyard. Their architect is unknown.[2]

1772. The abbey opens a college. It has 62 pupils in 1779 and over 100 in 1797.[1]

1797. In December French troops close the monastery, which is dissolved.[1][2]

1798. The buildings are sold to Frédéric Japy.[2]

1891. The canton of Bern buys the complex.[2]

1899. The buildings become a psychiatric hospital, which takes in its first patients (arrival also dated to 1897).[1][2]

1963. The church now hosts exhibitions and concerts.[1]

2022. The psychiatric clinic of Bellelay closes.[1][4]

Historic sites in Abbaye de Bellelay

Abbey church. A wall-pillar church typical of the Vorarlberg school, with a two-tower façade whose south tower dates from the late 15th century and was raised in 1568. Restored step by step from 1956, it is listed with the former abbey in the inventory of cultural property (category A).[1][2][3]

Conventual buildings. A Baroque four-wing complex around a rectangular courtyard, with a west façade of grey ashlar. Abbot Grégoire Joliat (1743-1771) had it decorated, and it was renovated from 1990 to 1998.[2]

Enclosure wall and gate. An enclosure wall about 600 m long, renewed under Grégoire Joliat, surrounds the estate, with a gate of 1785 and a ditch.[2]

Hôtel de l'Ours. The abbey's former guesthouse, built in 1697-1698, with its stables of 1740.[2]

Farm and outbuildings. The farm of 1768 houses a farming museum and a cheese dairy. Tête de moine cheese has been made at Bellelay since the Middle Ages. Also from the 18th century are the tannery (1749 and 1790), the mill and the bakehouse (around 1750) and the terraced gardens of 1752-1754.[2][4]

Remains in Abbaye de Bellelay

Medieval church. The old church was demolished in 1708. Only its tower survives, in the façade of the Baroque abbey church.[2]

Second farm of 1766-1768. Of the two large farms built in 1766-1768, one burned down in 1959.[2]

Legends of Abbaye de Bellelay

Siginand's vow. Legend has it that Siginand, provost of the chapter of Moutier-Grandval, founded the abbey to fulfil a vow made during a hunting accident.[1]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Bellelay » (Jean-Claude Rebetez), version du 24.09.2025
  2. Inventaire fédéral des sites construits d'importance nationale (ISOS), fiche « Bellelay », commune de Saicourt (2005)
  3. Office fédéral de la protection de la population, Inventaire PBC 2021, liste cantonale du canton de Berne (état au 1.1.2026)
  4. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Saicourt » (Pierre-André Wyss), version du 20.01.2026

Other villages near Abbaye de Bellelay

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