Belfaux
Origin of the name Belfaux
The place appears in the 12th century in the forms « Belfo » and « Bellofago », then in 1229 as « Bellfozen ». The name is said to come from the Latin bellus fagus, the « fine beech », perhaps a tree venerated in Helvetic-Roman times. The old German name, Gumschen, would go back to compitum, the crossroads, recalling two Roman roads that met here.[1][2]
Founding of Belfaux
Belfaux has been inhabited without interruption since the Mesolithic. The village lies on the Roman road from Rome to Avenches and on the road from Fribourg to Payerne. Its parish is one of the fifteen Fribourg parishes created before the year 1000: an 8th-century baptismal font was found at the Pré Saint-Maurice, and Belfaux is then the only known parish in today's Sarine district. Autafond and Cutterwil belong to it, and it now covers seven municipalities. Farming and crafts supported the village until the 20th century.[1][2]
History of Belfaux
Around 6000 BC. Mesolithic flints are left at the Pré Saint-Maurice.[2]
750 BC-AD 1. In the Iron Age a Hallstatt well is dug on the same spot, and two early La Tène graves are laid out there.[1][2]
6th century. A Merovingian church is founded at the Pré Saint-Maurice and altered in the 8th and 10th centuries. The nearby cemetery remained in use until the 17th century and received more than a thousand graves.[2]
1138. On 25 February, at the dedication of the first church of the abbey of Hauterive, « Giroldus decanus de Belfo », dean and parish priest of Belfaux, signs the book of donations first. This is the first mention of the parish.[1][2]
1267. Belfaux belongs to Guillaume de Montagny.[1]
1283. Richard de Corbières cedes Belfaux to Rudolf of Habsburg.[1]
1442. The Tierstein family sells about twenty parishes of the area to the town of Fribourg, Belfaux among them. The village then belongs to the Old Lands, in the banner of the Hospital, until at least 1798.[1][2]
15th century. Belfaux has one of the first paper mills in Switzerland.[1]
Around 1470. The church of Saint-Étienne burns. Only the great 13th-century wooden crucifix is spared, as a deed of 1478 by the bishop of Lausanne Benoît de Montferrand attests.[1][3]
17th-18th centuries. The shrine draws many pilgrims. In the 17th century shops selling devotional objects open around the church.[1][3]
1802. Grolley breaks away from the parish.[2]
1847. On 14 November, during the Sonderbund War, the surrender of the Fribourg government is signed at Belfaux.[1]
1848. The village passes from the district of Fribourg to that of Sarine.[1]
1851. The present neoclassical church, designed by Fidel Leimbacher, is inaugurated. It is not consecrated until 1865.[1]
1911. Excavations take place in the « Sur le Ruz » gravel pit.[2]
1964. An aluminium foundry settles in Belfaux. In the early 1990s it employs about a hundred people.[1]
1977. Cutterwil joins Belfaux after a decree of 2 November 1976. The municipality replaces the hind in its arms with the « fine beech ».[1][2][4]
1981-1986. The excavations at the Pré Saint-Maurice reveal a site recognised as of national importance for the continuity of its occupation.[1][2]
2013. A public garden opens next to the church, on a former cemetery.[3]
2016. Autafond merges with Belfaux on 1 January. The arms take up the hind with the rose of Autafond, the rose recalling the lords of Thüdingen, former advocates of the parish.[1][2][5]
Population of Belfaux
Sources and references: [1][6]
| 1770 | 212 |
| 1850 | 369 |
| 1900 | 522 |
| 1950 | 877 |
| 2000 | 2'214 (with Cutterwil) |
| 2025 | 3'488 |
Historic sites in Belfaux
Church of Saint-Étienne. Built in the 1850s to plans by Fidel Leimbacher, it has a portico with a statue of St Stephen carved in 1902 by the Ticino sculptor A. Regazzoni and a nave with eight fluted columns. The choir keeps stalls of 1850 and paintings by Dominik Annen (1876), the back of the nave two pictures by Gottfried Locher (18th century). The organ was inaugurated in 1880.[1][3][7]
Holy crucifix. The great 13th-century wooden crucifix that survived the fire stands to the right of the choir entrance. A stained-glass window by Henri Broillet of 1920 recalls the miracle.[1][3]
Public garden. Opened in 2013 next to the church, on the site of a former cemetery.[3]
Manors and houses of the centre. The Lanthen-Heidt manor, known as La Forge, is a cultural property of national importance. The Montenach manor, the so-called Buman manor, the Auberge des XIII Cantons and the dairy are of regional importance.[7]
Remains in Belfaux
Pré Saint-Maurice. This site of national importance, excavated from 1981 to 1986, has yielded Mesolithic flints, a Hallstatt well, two early La Tène graves, Roman remains, a cemetery used from the 6th to the 17th century, traces of settlement and the foundations of three medieval churches, with an 8th-century baptismal font.[1][2][7]
« Sur le Ruz » gravel pit. Excavations were carried out here in 1911.[2]
Legends of Belfaux
The crucifix spared by the fire. Tradition tells that the crucifix remained « complètement indemne au milieu et au-dessus des tisons enflammés ». The bishop of Lausanne recognised the miracle, and the sick came here seeking healing. Some of the faithful walked from Fribourg carrying large crosses as penance. The pilgrimages declined in the 19th century.[3]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Belfaux » (Simone Vörös, version du 26.09.2016)
- Commune de Belfaux, « Histoire de Belfaux »
- Région de Fribourg (Fribourg Tourisme), « Église Saint-Étienne », Belfaux
- État de Fribourg, Recueil systématique (RSF 141.1.2), « Liste chronologique des fusions, divisions et changements de nom des communes »
- Commune d'Autafond, plan d'aménagement local, rapport explicatif (juin 2015)
- Service de la statistique du canton de Fribourg (SStat), « Population des communes, de 1900 à 2025 » (T01-02-03), population résidante permanente au 31.12.2025
- Office fédéral de la protection de la population, « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : liste cantonale, canton de FR » (état au 1.1.2026)
Localities of the municipality with a page
Other villages near Belfaux
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