Im Fang
Origin of the name Im Fang
The German name Im Fang is a diminutive of « Bifang » and « In Fang », which mean enclosed land, a meadow or a field. The French name, La Villette, comes from the Romance diminutive of « villa », which in Old French meant a small country house.[1][3]
Founding of Im Fang
Im Fang is a village in the municipality of Jaun (Bellegarde), the only German-speaking municipality of the Gruyère district. It has always belonged to the municipality and parish of Jaun. Its people had to go to Jaun for services, which was hard in heavy snow or bad weather. The parish priest Johann Jakob Zurkinden therefore worked to build a church in Fang, consecrated in 1871. Until the 1970s the village was partly self-sufficient, with its own chaplaincy, post office, milk collection dairy, primary school, grocery shops and fire brigade. Timber and forestry are still important trades today, in Im Fang too.[1][2][3]
History of Im Fang
1848-1877. Johann Jakob Zurkinden is parish priest of Jaun. He sets out to give Fang a church.[2]
1867. The Benediktmatte, now the Kirchmatte, is bought as a building site.[2]
1868. Work on the church begins.[2]
1871. The church is consecrated on 19 March, the feast of its patron, Saint Joseph.[2][4]
1910. Jules Robert, bell founder at Porrentruy, casts the church's two bells.[2]
1939. The Munich painter Gerhard Fugel creates the Stations of the Cross.[2]
1945. Stained-glass windows by Jules Schmid and Herbert Fleckner, both from Fribourg, are installed.[2]
1950s. Major works give the church oil heating, new pews, a loudspeaker system and electrified bells.[2]
1970s. Until this time the village has a chaplaincy, a post office, a milk collection dairy, a primary school, several grocery shops, its own fire brigade and the Zur Hochmatt hotel-restaurant. Fortress guards maintain the many forts in the mountain, built to shelter the population in case of war.[1]
1984. The church has an electronic organ.[2]
Historic sites in Im Fang
Church of Saint Joseph. Built from 1868 to 1871 on the Kirchmatte, it keeps in the high altar paintings reused from the old church of Jaun, showing the deaths of Saint Joseph and Saint Stephen. Its two bells of 1910 weigh 140 kg (Saint Joseph, D sharp) and 70 kg (Saint Mary, F sharp).[2][4]
Cemetery. Im Fang has its own cemetery.[2]
Sources
- Parc naturel régional Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut, Signalétique patrimoniale de la Jogne, « The village Im Fang » (avec la commune de Jaun)
- Parc naturel régional Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut, Signalétique patrimoniale de la Jogne, « The church of Saint-Joseph » (avec la commune de Jaun)
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Jaun » (Jean-François Steiert), version du 19.11.2013
- Unité pastorale Notre-Dame de l'Evi, « Kirche Im Fang »
Other villages near Im Fang
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