Gruyères
Origin of the name Gruyères
The name appears in 1138-1139 as « de Grueri », then in 1144 in « comes de Grueria », the title of a count named Willelmus. It probably derives from « gruarius », the office of forest warden, rather than from the crane, even though the counts' arms, known from a seal of 1221, show that bird.[1][2]
Founding of Gruyères
The count of Gruyère had a castle built on top of the hill, from which he controlled the upper Sarine valley. This fortress may date back to the late 11th century and came with a small borough. The comital family came from Château-d'Œx. Before 1195/1196 Gruyères already held a market. The town then spread westward from the castle, with the upper and later the lower borough, a central street and a town wall. The municipality also includes the villages of Épagny, Pringy and Moléson-sur-Gruyères, the hamlets of Saussivue, Le Pont and Le Creux, and the former charterhouse of La Part-Dieu.[1][2]
History of Gruyères
1115. A count Wilerius appears in the pancarte of Rougemont, a deed of gift to the priory. He may have belonged to the family of the counts of Gruyère.[2]
1195/1196. The market of Gruyères was abolished in favour of that of Bulle.[1][2]
1244. Count Rudolph III paid homage to Peter II of Savoy for the « castrum Gruerie ».[2]
1254. The church of Saint-Théodule, commissioned by Rudolph III, was consecrated. Gruyères broke away from the parish of Bulle.[1][2]
1272-1280. The castle was rebuilt under Savoyard overlordship as a Savoyard square with a large round tower.[2]
1359. Amadeus VI of Savoy confirmed the town's franchises, modelled on those of Moudon.[2]
1397. Count Rudolph IV confirmed these franchises in his turn.[1]
1434. A council of twelve members was set up. It met in the hospital, at the north-west corner of the upper borough.[1][2]
1473-1493. The town wall was rebuilt. Around 1475 the Belluard, a barbican with two side gates, strengthened the entrance.[2]
1493. A fire struck the castle, whose living quarters were rebuilt.[1]
1554-1555. The Diet declared Michel, the last count, bankrupt. Bern and Fribourg divided his lands, and Gruyères became the seat of a Fribourg bailiwick.[1][2]
1611-1612. Plague killed 140 people. The chapel du Berceau, dedicated to Saints Sebastian and Roch, was built in 1612 (or 1614) on the plague cemetery.[1][2]
1639-1651. During the Thirty Years' War, Bernardine and Visitandine nuns from Besançon and Dole took refuge in Gruyères. The Visitandines ran a girls' school there.[1]
1767. The road to the upper Gruyère stopped climbing the hill. The town declined after the valley road through Épagny opened.[1]
1814. The castle became the seat of the prefecture, until 1848.[1][2]
1849. The State of Fribourg sold the castle to the Bovy family of Geneva. In 1861 it passed by marriage to the Balland family, watch industrialists.[1][2]
1891. The Ingenbohl sisters opened the Saint-Joseph institute for the deaf and dumb in 1891 (or 1890), in the Saint-Germain fortified house. It moved to Fribourg in 1925 (or 1921).[1][2][4]
1903. Pringy got its station on the Palézieux-Montbovon line, then Épagny its own on the Bulle-Broc line in 1913.[1][2]
1938. The Fribourg government bought back the castle and turned it into a history museum.[1][2]
1998. The HR Giger Museum moved into the Saint-Germain castle, and a new funicular began serving Moléson-sur-Gruyères.[1][4]
Population of Gruyères
Sources and references: [1][6]
| 1850 | 972 |
| 1900 | 1'389 |
| 1920 | 1'711 |
| 1950 | 1'302 |
| 2000 | 1'546 |
| 2025 | 2'353 |
Historic sites in Gruyères
Gruyères Castle. Seat of the counts, then of the bailiffs and prefects, the castle has been a museum since 1938. It is listed as cultural property of national importance, together with its chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, whose stained glass dates from the late 15th century, and its wall.[1][2][5]
Ramparts and Chupyâ Bârba tower. The wall, the Chupyâ Bârba tower, the Charrière des Morts and the Belluard are listed as of national importance. Built around 1440, the tower was saved in 1828 by a letter from the inhabitants to the government, while the Sainte-Agathe, Bulle and Chavonne gates disappeared in 1831, 1836 and 1860.[2][5]
House of Chalamala. Its façade of 1531, between late Gothic and Renaissance, has moulded windows in hard plaster, a very rare piece of work. Inside, a tiled stove of 1536 is among the oldest in the canton.[3][5]
Saint-Germain fortified house. Built in the late 13th or the 14th century for a family of the counts' ministeriales, present in Gruyères from 1351 to 1578, it was remodelled in 1607. It has housed the HR Giger Museum since 1998.[4][5]
Church of Saint-Théodule. Consecrated in 1254, the church holds the counts' tombs under the altar of Saint Michael. After the fires of 1670 (or 1679) and 1856, the nave was rebuilt and the church reconsecrated in 1860. Its treasury is listed in the inventory of cultural property.[1][2][5]
Borough houses and Laviau barn. The Castella house, the Gachet house and the grain measures in the Rue du Bourg are listed as of national importance, as is the Laviau manorial barn, probably from the late 15th century.[2][5]
Épagny, Pringy, Moléson and La Part-Dieu. The municipality also has the chapel of Sainte-Anne at Épagny, the Castella manor of the Clos Muré at Pringy, the Moléson-sur-Gruyères resort, opened in the 1960s, and the former charterhouse of La Part-Dieu, listed as of national importance.[1][5]
Remains in Gruyères
Épagny. Épagny has yielded remains from the Bronze Age and the Hallstatt period, La Tène graves (325-250 BC), a villa of the 2nd and 3rd centuries and an early medieval cemetery of more than 80 graves.[1][2]
Hill of Gruyères. A coin of Maximian, a bronze hand and a brooch of the 2nd and 3rd centuries suggest Roman occupation of the hill. Masonry beneath the castle esplanade may belong to an early medieval religious building.[1][2]
Legends of Gruyères
Chalamala, the count's jester. Tradition holds that the house in the Rue du Bourg belonged to Girard, known as Chalamala, jester to Count Peter IV of Gruyère, who died around 1349. His house was reproduced in the Swiss Village of the National Exhibition in Geneva in 1896.[3]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Gruyères (commune) » (Jean-Marc Purro, version du 24.07.2006)
- Office fédéral de la culture, Inventaire fédéral des sites construits (ISOS), « Gruyères » (n° 1616), 3e version, octobre 2023
- Inventaire PBC, fiche KGS 02193, « Maison dite de Chalamala », Gruyères (texte du Guide artistique de la Suisse, SHAS)
- Inventaire PBC, fiche KGS 02198, « Porte et maison forte des Saint-Germain », Gruyères (texte du Guide artistique de la Suisse, SHAS)
- Office fédéral de la protection de la population, « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : Liste cantonale Canton de FR » (état au 1.1.2026)
- 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
Localities of the municipality with a page
Other villages near Gruyères
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