Praz (Vully)
Origin of the name Praz (Vully)
The village appears in 1375 as « villagium dou Pra ». The name comes from the Latin « pratum », meadow. In German it was once called Matten.[1][2]
Founding of Praz (Vully)
Praz grew up on the alluvial fan of the Vaux de Praz stream, at the south-eastern foot of Mont Vully, on Lake Murten. The lakeside road and the cross street that shape the village may go back to the Roman division of the land. Praz formed, with Nant, Sugiez and Chaumont, the group of La Rivière in the lordship of Murten. The village never had a church and depended on that of Môtier. From the 15th century, Bernese and Fribourg patricians built winegrowers' houses here.[1][2][6]
History of Praz (Vully)
Neolithic. A lakeside village lies south-east of the present settlement.[1][2]
1255. With the lordship of Murten, Praz passes to Count Peter II of Savoy.[6]
1375. First mention of the « villagium dou Pra ».[1][2]
1428. The village has 30 hearths.[1]
1520s. The property passes to Dorothée Velga in 1519 (or in 1525, on her marriage to Hans Rudolf von Erlach, baron of Spiez). The d'Erlach-Velga house is built.[2][3]
1539. The neighbouring house of Guillaume Velga is raised and dated.[3]
1639. The Steiger patrician winegrower's house is built at the entrance to the village from Nant.[2][4]
1680. The Wattenwyl house is remodelled, and again in 1835.[2]
1758. A fire strikes Praz, in the year the tithe plan is drawn up. The village core is by then almost fully formed.[1][2]
1813. Praz has 92 houses, 78 of them combined with a barn and stable.[2]
1820. The school, with a mansard roof and a small bell turret, is built. It is restored in 1987.[2]
1932-1933. The architect Hugo Petitpierre restores the d'Erlach-Velga house.[3]
1981. The Société de développement du Vully revives the grape harvest festival after some twenty years' break. It is held in Vieux Praz, usually on the last weekend of September.[5]
2016. Praz, until then in the municipality of Bas-Vully, becomes part of Mont-Vully.[1]
Population of Praz (Vully)
Sources and references: [1][2]
| 1428 | 30 hearths |
| 1813 | 92 houses |
| 1992 | 259 inhabitants |
Historic sites in Praz (Vully)
D'Erlach-Velga house. Three buildings on the Rue du Château. The main one, from the 1520s, keeps triple windows on its south side and a block bearing the arms of Erlach and Velga, and inside two tiled stoves attributed to Jean-Conrad Landolt, around 1740. Cultural property of national importance.[2][3][4]
Steiger house. Patrician winegrower's house of 1639 at the entrance to the village core from Nant. Cultural property of national importance.[2][4]
Wattenwyl house. Manor standing alone in a park, at the entrance from Môtier, remodelled in 1680 and 1835. Cultural property of national importance.[2][4]
Old school. Building of 1820 with a mansard roof and bell turret, restored in 1987.[2]
Restaurant de l'Écu. 19th-century inn with a terrace shaded by two plane trees. The earlier grape harvest festivals took place around it.[2][5]
Remains in Praz (Vully)
Neolithic lakeside settlement. The remains of a Neolithic village lie south-east of Praz.[1][2]
Chaumont. This hamlet, closely tied to Praz in the 16th century, was abandoned in the 19th century.[1]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Praz » (Marianne Rolle), version du 04.10.2016
- Inventaire fédéral des sites construits à protéger en Suisse (ISOS), « Praz » (2003)
- Inventaire PBC, fiche « Maison d'Erlach-Velga » (KGS 02365)
- Office fédéral de la protection de la population, « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : liste cantonale, canton de FR » (état au 1.1.2026)
- État de Fribourg, TradiFri, « Fête des vendanges du Vully »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vully » (Nicole Meystre-Schaeren), version du 05.01.2015
Other villages near Praz (Vully)
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