Muntelier
Origin of the name Muntelier
The fishing village appears in 1270 as « Es Montelliers ». The name derives from the Gallo-Roman family name « Montilius ». The German form Muntelier reflects the old French name, Montilier.[1][2]
Founding of Muntelier
A former fishing village on the south shore of Lake Morat (Murtensee), Muntelier lived from fishing, boating and farming. A Roman road is attested on its territory, with a site of the same period near the church. This is where the old settlement of Murten (« Vetus Murat ») stood, with the church of St Maurice, founded in late Roman or Merovingian times. Until the 17th century the population mostly spoke French.[1][2][3]
History of Muntelier
1013. A royal seat of Rudolph III of Burgundy is recorded. Its site has not yet been found.[3]
1034. When the kingdom of Burgundy is joined to the Empire, Emperor Conrad II plunders the old settlement of Murten and the church of St Maurice.[3]
1228. The church of St Maurice, parish church of Murten, is mentioned for the first time.[1]
1270. The fishing village is recorded as « Es Montelliers ».[1][2]
1533. Muntelier, until then part of the municipality of Murten, becomes a separate municipality with a very small territory.[1][2]
1684. A village school is recorded. A school building is put up in 1702.[1]
About 1700. The Bernese patrician Julius Hieronymus von Ernst has a Baroque manor built.[1][4]
1741. A great fire destroys 35 houses. Only five buildings survive, among them the manor and the estate granary. The street village is rebuilt quickly and entirely in stone.[1][2]
1762. The church of St Maurice is demolished and not replaced.[1][2]
1822. The municipality receives its present extent.[2]
1825-1826. The Erath dye works puts up its buildings.[1]
1854. Etienne-Ovide Domon takes over the dye works in 1854 (or 1859) and sets up a watch-case factory there, the only successful proto-industrial foundation in the canton.[1][2]
1863. The Bad Muntelier hotel is mentioned. It grew out of a brewery, an inn, a lake bath and a dance and theatre hall.[1]
1868-1888. The first Jura water correction lowers the lake. A strip of shore 50 to 100 m wide emerges, where 20th-century building will spread.[2]
1876. The Palézieux-Morat-Lyss railway line opens.[2]
1957. Selecta AG, a maker of drinks vending machines, moves its headquarters to Muntelier.[1]
1962. Montilier Watch Co. SA, which employed up to 600 people, closes.[1][2]
1980. The watch factory is demolished. The Marcoup housing estate takes its place.[2]
2007-2008. Divers assess the state of the Muntelier-Steinberg lake village, eroding since the late 20th century.[1]
Population of Muntelier
Sources and references: [1][6]
| 15th century | 20 households (approx.) |
| 17th century | 15 households (approx.) |
| 1811 | 374 |
| 1850 | 408 |
| 1900 | 576 |
| 1950 | 493 |
| 2000 | 719 |
| 2025 | 1'020 |
Historic sites in Muntelier
Von Ernst manor. Built about 1700 for Julius Hieronymus von Ernst (1656-1725), this cultural property of national importance was one of the most ambitious country houses in the region. The three-storey main block has a broken roof, and the lake front is flanked by two corner projections with onion caps. The small drawing room keeps stucco attributed to Jean Boyer, about 1700. Constantin Dinichert (1832-1916), director of Montilier Watch Co., had the annex fitted out about 1860 or 1875. Opposite, a walled Baroque park once ran straight down to the lake.[2][4][5]
Castle granary. A large granary of the 16th to 18th centuries with a very high hipped roof, which survived the fire of 1741. It served as a school from 1874 to 1970. It is a cultural property of regional importance.[2][5]
Municipal house. A building of 1741 with a mansard roof, put up when the village was rebuilt.[2]
Hotel Bad. A group of buildings round a courtyard, the first of them dating from after 1742. It was enlarged in the 19th and 20th centuries.[2]
Fountain. Public fountain dated 1835, with a second trough added in 1917.[2]
Cemetery. Walled, it occupies the site of the church of St Maurice, the old mother church of Murten.[2]
Remains in Muntelier
Neolithic lake villages. Six sites were excavated by the cantonal archaeology service between 1971 and 2003: Muntelier-Dorf, Fischergässli and Strandweg (Middle Neolithic, classic Cortaillod), Platzbünden (Late Neolithic, Horgen culture), Steinberg and Dorfmatte (Final Neolithic, Lüscherz and Auvernier-Cordé cultures). The dates range from 3890 to 2625 BC. Platzbünden is one of the main Late Neolithic villages of western Switzerland. The group is a cultural property of national importance.[1][2][3][5]
Muntelier-Steinberg. A Late Bronze Age lake village, excavated in the 19th century by Friedrich Schwab of Biel, then by Gustav von Bonstetten, and plundered by illicit digging. In 1974, potsherds of the same period turned up in a trench in the village centre.[1]
Roman road. A Roman road has been identified in the soil layers, with a site of the same period near the church.[1]
Watch factory. Of the Montilier Watch Co. factory, demolished in 1980, only the factory house of about 1880 still stands.[2]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Muntelier » (Denis Ramseyer et Hermann Schöpfer, version du 21.01.2010)
- Inventaire fédéral des sites construits d'importance nationale à protéger en Suisse (ISOS), « Muntelier », 2e version, 07.2005
- Inventaire PBC, fiche KGS 09599, « Muntelier », stations littorales (texte du Guide artistique de la Suisse, SHAS)
- Inventaire PBC, fiche KGS 02246, « Herrenhaus von Ernst », Muntelier (texte du Guide artistique de la Suisse, SHAS)
- Office fédéral de la protection de la population, « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : liste cantonale, canton de Fribourg » (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
Other villages near Muntelier
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