Ruine d'Obermontenach
Origin of the name Ruine d'Obermontenach
Obermonten, also called Obermontenach, is one of the hamlets of the former municipality of St. Antoni, alongside Niedermonten, long the centre of the municipality. The hill bearing the ruin is called the Chutz, the Bernese word for a Hochwacht, the signal post that stood there.[1][3]
Founding of Ruine d'Obermontenach
The Chutz rises to 886 m just north of Obermonten, between St. Antoni and Heitenried. A Hochwacht here was part of the signal network used to mobilise the troops, linked with Schwarzenburg, the Guggershorn and Wydenfeld. From the hill the view reaches the Grasburg, St. Antoni, Maggenberg, Heitenried, Fribourg, Murten and Lake Neuchâtel. When the tower was built is unknown, but its name confirms it was a watchtower.[3][4]
History of Ruine d'Obermontenach
1453. A chapel at Obermonten is dedicated that year to St Mary Magdalene. It later comes under the patronage of the Virgin.[2]
1667. Blasius Weber, a former captain in the service of Genoa and member of Fribourg's Grand Council, buys the Obermonten estates and has the chapel built.[2]
1670. On 15 June Bishop Johann Baptist Strambino consecrates the chapel.[2]
18th century. The chapel passes to the de Buman family. Ignace de Buman and his wife Elisabeth, née de Vevey, give the sanctuary lamp in 1777.[2]
1832. Franz Küenlin describes Obermonten as a village of Tafers parish with 13 dwellings, and notes on a hill « les ruines d'un ancien signal ».[2]
1844. On 4 October a neighbouring barn burns and damages the chapel. The statue and altar paintings are saved, and the altar is rebuilt in 1845.[2]
1846. On 26 May Bishop Stephan Marilley reconsecrates the chapel. During the rebuilding Colonel Louis de Buman had the family arms carved above the entrance.[2]
1920. The journal « Pionier » mentions the Hochwachten around Obermontenach, used to mobilise the troops.[3]
1996. The de Weck, d'Espine-Frossard de Saugy and de Courten-de Weck families give the chapel and its furnishings to the Obermontenach Chapel Foundation. It is renovated in 1998.[2]
2021. On 1 January, together with St. Antoni, Obermonten becomes part of the municipality of Tafers.[1][5]
Historic sites in Ruine d'Obermontenach
Chutz hill. It is a quarter of an hour's walk up from Obermonten. The view opens from south-east to north-west.[3][4]
Chapel of Our Lady of Providence. In the hamlet, the chapel holds a statue of the Virgin attributed to Jakob and Hans-Franz Reyff (1645-1648), altar paintings of St Aloysius (1852), Ignatius of Loyola and Elizabeth of Thuringia, and a copy of Rubens's Entombment. An ex-voto records that the de Buman and de Vuilleret families survived the explosion of a powder tower at Gruyères on 25 August 1830. A pilgrimage is held on the first Sunday of September.[2]
Remains in Ruine d'Obermontenach
Signal tower. Remains of walls are still visible on top of the Chutz. According to a witness, Director Schwaller, the whole ground floor of a tower was still standing a few decades earlier.[2][4]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « St. Antoni » (Peter F. Kopp, version du 10.06.2021)
- Seelsorgeeinheit Sense Mitte, « Kapelle Obermonten » (2012)
- hochwacht.info, « Chutz bei Obermonten, St. Antoni »
- swisscastles.ch, « Freiburg : Schloss St Antoni »
- Commune de Tafers, « Geschichte der Gemeinde und der Ortsteile »
Other villages near Ruine d'Obermontenach
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