Tafers
Origin of the name Tafers
Tafers appears around 1150 as «Tabernis», then as «de Tabemis» between 1178 and 1189, «Tavels» in 1228 and «Tavers» in 1433. The name is said to come from the Latin ad tabernas, «by the inn», a sign of a Roman or Romance foundation that the Alemanni took over in the 8th and 9th centuries. In French it is called Tavel.[1][3]
Founding of Tafers
Tafers (Tavel) grew up east of Fribourg, north of the Galterengraben, around the church of St Martin, probably a Frankish foundation. Its parish reached the Saane and covered more than half of today's Sense district. It was divided into quarters, the «Schrote»: the village formed the Bodenschrot, Alterswil the Juchschrot, St. Antoni the Schrickschrot and St. Ursen the Ennet-dem-Bach-Schrot. Until 1831 Tafers belonged to the Aupanner, one of the banners of the Old Territories of Fribourg. The hamlet of Rohr and the Klein-Schönberg quarter also belong to the municipality, which since 1 January 2021 has united Tafers, Alterswil and St. Antoni.[1][2][3]
History of Tafers
1148. First mention of the church of St Martin.[1][4]
12th-13th century. The church tower is built.[1]
1511. The Matte quarter of Fribourg leaves the parish of Tafers.[1]
1530-1554. The Gothic choir is built.[1]
Late 16th century. Rechthalten and Heitenried become separate parishes.[1]
1620. The confraternity of St James is first mentioned. At the request of Jacob Kämmerling, provost of St Nicholas in Fribourg, Pope Paul V grants an indulgence to visitors to the chapel and church on St James's day.[5]
1753. The chapel of St Michael, the cemetery ossuary, is built.[1][4]
1769. The St James chapel, recorded from 1665, is replaced by the present building.[4][5]
1780. The Sigristenhaus is built as a school. It is used for teaching until the 1840s.[1][4]
1786-1789. A new nave is built, and Gottfried Locher decorates it with paintings.[1][4]
1803. Tafers is assigned to the district of Fribourg.[1]
1831. The great parish is divided into four municipalities, and Tafers moves to the German district. The division of the burghers' property lasts until the end of the 19th century.[1][3]
1848. Tafers becomes the capital of the new Sense district.[1]
1886. The district hospital opens. The canton takes it over in 1960.[1]
Late 19th century. At the initiative of the sisters Marie and Ernestine Surbeck, the Vincentian Sisters settle here. They found hospitals, a children's home, an orphanage, schools and a girls' boarding school.[1]
1894. Alterswil and St. Antoni become parishes. St. Ursen follows in 1901.[1][3]
1975. The Sensler Museum moves into the Sigristenhaus.[1]
2015. On 18 October, after talks begun in 2014, Tafers and St. Antoni vote to study a merger. Alterswil joins in December 2016, while Heitenried and St. Ursen decline.[7]
2019. On 19 May Tafers accepts the merger agreement by 916 votes to 408, St. Antoni by 786 to 292 and Alterswil by 574 to 439. The Grand Council approves it on 17 December.[7][8]
2021. On 1 January the new municipality of Tafers unites the three municipalities over 41.35 km², with cantonal aid of 1'475'100 francs.[7][8]
Population of Tafers
Sources and references: [1][9]
| 1811 | 411 |
| 1850 | 589 |
| 1900 | 964 |
| 1950 | 1'570 |
| 2000 | 2'627 |
| 2010 | 2'851 |
| 2020 | 3'530 |
| 2025 | 8'030 (merged municipality) |
Historic sites in Tafers
Church of St Martin. The polygonal tower of the 12th-13th century rises over the late Gothic choir of 1530-1554. The nave of 1786-1789, painted by Gottfried Locher, was renovated in 1897 and enlarged in 1964-1965. A 15th-century wooden pietà stands at the north side altar.[1][4]
St James chapel. In the cemetery, the building of 1769 houses an early Baroque altar by Hans Franz Reyff, from about 1640. Jakob Stoll (1731-1812), a painter from the Sense district, painted the cycle of eight scenes on the front and the apostles John and James in the same year.[4][5]
Chapel of St Michael. This ossuary of 1753, next to the church, keeps a 16th-century crucifixion.[1][4]
Sigristenhaus and Sensler Museum. Built in 1780 as a school, later the sexton's house, it has a front decorated with carvings and inscriptions. Since 1975 it has housed the district museum, with its votive pictures.[1][4]
Village centre. Around the church stand the St Martin inn of 1755, the Neoclassical presbytery, the 18th-century chaplaincy with a mansard roof and the Oberamt, seat of the prefecture, rebuilt to look like a small castle.[4]
Maggenberg castle. Built in the first half of the 17th century, it was the home of the Surbeck sisters. The chapel of Sts Peter and Paul at Maggenberg dates from the 16th century.[1]
Menziswil chapel. The chapel of the Assumption, near Menziswil castle, was built around 1780.[1]
Remains in Tafers
Burial mounds. Three Hallstatt-period burial mounds have never been excavated.[1]
Bruchmatt. At the place called Bruchmatt lie the ruins of a Gallo-Roman settlement and an early medieval cemetery.[1]
Maggenbergholz. In the Maggenberg wood there are traces of the first seat of the lords of Maggenberg, from the 12th and 13th centuries.[1]
Legends of Tafers
The gallows miracle. A dishonest innkeeper hides a gold cup in the luggage of a father and son on their way to Santiago de Compostela, then accuses them of theft. The son is hanged. The father goes on with his pilgrimage and, on the way back, finds his son alive on the gallows, held up by St James. The judge, who is roasting chickens, refuses to believe it: a hanged man can no more come back to life than his chickens. The chickens then stand up and fly away. Father and son return home, and the innkeeper is executed. The legend is painted on the St James chapel.[4][5][6]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Tafers » (Peter F. Kopp, version du 10.06.2021)
- Commune de Tafers, « Geschichte der Gemeinde und der Ortsteile »
- Commune de Tafers, « Geschichte der Gemeinde und der Ortsteile » (brochure PDF)
- Commune de Tafers, « Geschichtliche Bauten »
- Paroisse de Tafers, « Sankt-Jakobs-Kapelle »
- Commune de Tafers, « Legenden vom Galgenwunder »
- Conseil d'État du canton de Fribourg, message 2019-DIAF-5 accompagnant le projet de décret relatif à la fusion des communes d'Alterswil, de St. Antoni et de Tafers (12.11.2019)
- Grand Conseil du canton de Fribourg, décret du 17 décembre 2019 relatif à la fusion des communes d'Alterswil, de St. Antoni et de Tafers (ROF 2019_102)
- 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 Tafers
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