Belmont-sur-Lausanne
Origin of the name Belmont-sur-Lausanne
First written mention in 1228 in the forms « Belmunt » and « apud bellum Montem ». The name means « fair mount », which matches the village's position on a promontory overlooking Lake Geneva. In Vaud patois the municipality is called « Bîman ». The inhabitants are the Belmontais or « Bimands », nicknamed « les Hannetons » and « les Cancoires » (to be cross-checked).
Founding of Belmont-sur-Lausanne
None of the sources consulted names a founder or gives a date for the creation of the village. In the 13th century Belmont depended on the Lausanne chapter, which drew revenues there jointly with the Benedictine priory of Lutry, and its Saint-Martin church was a parish church from 1228 at least. The village grew up on a promontory above Lake Geneva, on the eastern side of the Paudèze valley, with the hamlet of Rochettaz and the former hamlet of Les Chaffaises (mill and sawmill), now vanished. Farming and wine-growing dominated, on ground prone to many landslides, until Lausanne's population growth turned it, from 1960, into a residential municipality.
History of Belmont-sur-Lausanne
1228. First written mention (« Belmunt », « apud bellum Montem »); the Saint-Martin church is then a parish church.
13th century. Belmont depends on the Lausanne chapter, which draws revenues there jointly with the Benedictine priory of Lutry.
1419. A confraternity of the Holy Spirit is recorded.
1536-1798. Under Bernese rule the village, attached to the bailiwick of Lausanne, is run by a governor assisted by the assembly of commune members; Bern and the town of Lausanne share the tithes, ground rents and jurisdiction.
After the Reformation. The Saint-Martin church becomes a chapel of ease sometimes of the parish of Pully, sometimes of that of Lutry.
1595. Restoration of the church, rebuilt to the original plan from 1589 (to be cross-checked).
1681. Further restoration of the church.
1771-1796. Gottlieb Wagner works the coal of the Paudèze valley and a lime kiln.
1798. Belmont becomes a municipality of the district of Lausanne.
1851-1892. The Radical government grants some forty coal-mining concessions, ruined in the 20th century by foreign coal.
1858-1862. Construction of the railway viaduct of the Lausanne-Bern line, which towers over the hamlet of Rochettaz.
1911. Belmont becomes a parish again.
1914-1918. Lignite mining resumes, and again during the Second World War (1939-1945).
1958. On 18 January an air accident costs the life of the Belgian knight Philippe de Selliers de Moranville; a memorial stone in the woods commemorates him (to be cross-checked).
1960. Start of the transformation into a residential municipality (villas); there were 14 farmers in 1950 and 4 in 1994.
1964. Creation of the Fondation pour l'art de Hans et Joram Deutsch.
1989. Inauguration of the community centre.
2008. Belmont-sur-Lausanne joins the new district of Lavaux-Oron (law on territorial division in force on 1 September 2006).
Population of Belmont-sur-Lausanne
| 1709 | 130 |
| 1764 | 181 |
| 1850 | 455 |
| 1860 | 514 |
| 1900 | 491 |
| 1941 | 347 |
| 1950 | 405 |
| 1980 | 1'415 |
| 2000 | 2'358 |
| 2025 | 3'891 |
Historic sites in Belmont-sur-Lausanne
Saint-Martin church (Reformed church). Parish church recorded from 1228 at least, later a Reformed church, restored in 1595 and 1681. Another source specifies that it was rebuilt from 1589 to 1595 to the original plan, that the porch and the façade bell tower were modernised in 1781, that the pulpit dates from 1681 and that the stained-glass windows are by Edouard Diekmann (1902) and René Martin (1927) (to be cross-checked).
Paudèze valley. On the eastern side of this valley lay the coalfield worked from 1771 to 1796 by Gottlieb Wagner, then by many concession holders in the 19th century, and for lignite during the two world wars.
Hamlet of Rochettaz and railway viaduct. Hamlet overlooked by the viaduct of the Lausanne-Bern line, built from 1858 to 1862.
1958 memorial stone. Stone in the woods recalling the air accident of 18 January 1958 in which the Belgian knight Philippe de Selliers de Moranville died (to be cross-checked).
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Belmont-sur-Lausanne »
- Wikipédia, « Belmont-sur-Lausanne »
- Statistique Vaud, « Population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2025 »
- Wikipédia, « Districts du canton de Vaud »
Other villages near Belmont-sur-Lausanne
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