Val de Bagnes
Origin of the name Val de Bagnes
The merger contract gives the new municipality the name Val de Bagnes. Its coat of arms shows a couple seated in a golden « bagne », beneath a golden larch and between two silver stars.[3]
Founding of Val de Bagnes
Val de Bagnes unites the municipal and burgher communities of Bagnes and Vollèges. At the time of the vote the two municipalities had almost 10'000 inhabitants, almost 8'000 of them in Bagnes and just over 2'000 in Vollèges. The merger contract provides for a general council of 60 members and a municipal council of 9 members. The burgher community takes the name « commune bourgeoisiale de Val de Bagnes » and is run by the municipal council. The territory corresponds to the Val de Bagnes, on the left bank of the Rhône, watered by the Dranse de Bagnes. Vollèges guards its entrance and connects with the plain via the Lein, Tronc and Planches passes. The former commune of Vollèges also included Etiez, Cries, Le Levron, Chemin-Dessus and Vens. Altogether the commune has some 26 villages and hamlets, from Vollèges and Le Châble to Verbier and Fionnay. From 1150 the abbey of Saint-Maurice holds rights over both, and after 1807 it keeps the appointment of the priests of the two parishes.[1][3][5][6][7]
History of Val de Bagnes
8th millennium BC. Hunter-gatherers set up camps at high altitude. From the Neolithic onwards the alpine pastures are used again and again.[5]
1150. Count Humbert of Savoy cedes to the abbey of Saint-Maurice part of his rights over Bagnes, called « Banie », and over « Octiet », today's Etiez near Vollèges. The abbey receives the ban, jurisdiction and grazing rights.[5][6]
1178. A papal bull mentions the church of Bagnes. The parish of Vollèges, called « Villezo », is recorded the same year.[6][8]
1294-1366. The abbey buys back the metralia of Bagnes (1294), then acquires the salterie (1340), the vidomnat of Vollèges (1341) and that of Bagnes (1366).[5]
1475. After the battle of the Planta, the dizains of Upper Valais drive the Duke of Savoy out of Lower Valais. Verbier castle is probably destroyed on this occasion.[5]
1515. The people of Bagnes fight with the Aosta valley people over the Grand Chermontane pasture. The Valais Diet awards it to them, on condition that they guard the Col de Fenêtre in time of war.[5]
1565. The abbey of Saint-Maurice sells its rights over the common land to the people of Bagnes.[5]
1807. An agreement ends the abbey's temporal power over Bagnes. Saint-Maurice keeps only the right to appoint the parish priests of Bagnes and Vollèges.[5]
1890. Fionnay welcomes its first summer guests and becomes the valley's first resort, ahead of Bruson and above all Verbier.[5]
1950-1953. The Médran chairlift at Verbier launches winter tourism in 1950. Three years later the railway reaches Le Châble from Sembrancher.[5]
1958-1960. The Mauvoisin dam puts an end to the catastrophic floods caused by the Giétro glacier. Together with the agreement signed with Bagnes in 1960, it also ends Vollèges's chronic water shortage.[5][6]
2018. In December the merger project is presented to the primary assembly of Vollèges and to the general council of Bagnes.[3]
2019. On 10 February the merger is approved by 69.5 % of voters in Bagnes, with a turnout of 57 %, and by 68.8 % in Vollèges, where turnout reaches 80 %.[1]
2020. On 11 March the cantonal parliament (Grand Conseil) approves the merger of the municipal and burgher communities of Bagnes and Vollèges.[2]
2021. On 1 January the merger takes effect.[1][3]
Population of Val de Bagnes
Sources and references: [4]
| 1980 | 5'676 (present-day territory) |
| 1990 | 6'313 (present-day territory) |
| 2000 | 7'845 (present-day territory) |
| 2010 | 9'357 (present-day territory) |
| 2020 | 10'329 (present-day territory) |
| 2025 | 11'042 |
Historic sites in Val de Bagnes
Church of Saint-Maurice and ossuary at Le Châble. A cultural property of national importance, the parish church of Bagnes has a choir of 1503, rebuilt in 1534 by Pierre Guigoz, and a nave of 1519-1525. The neighbouring ossuary, from around 1560, has a ceiling painted in 1943-1944 by Albert Chavaz.[8][9]
Former presbytery and Musée de Bagnes, at Le Châble. A fortified tower house of medieval origin, altered in 1638, it keeps wall paintings dated 1627. It has housed the Musée de Bagnes since 1984.[7][8]
Church of Saint-Martin at Vollèges. Built in 1730-1735 and restored from 1998 to 2010, it replaced a Romanesque chapel of the 11th-12th centuries and a Gothic church of the 15th century. Its bell tower is the work of Jean Dunoyer, like the one at Le Châble.[6]
Louvie pasture, at Mauvoisin. The Louvie alpine pasture, on the Mauvoisin road, is also listed in the inventory of cultural property of national importance.[9]
Col de Fenêtre. This pass to the Aosta valley long carried as much traffic as the Great St Bernard, if not more.[5]
Sources
- swissinfo.ch (ATS), « Les communes valaisannes de Bagnes et de Vollèges fusionnent » (10.2.2019)
- Commune de Val de Bagnes, « Décision du Grand Conseil concernant la fusion des communes municipales et bourgeoisiales de Bagnes et Vollèges »
- Communes de Bagnes et de Vollèges, « Contrat de fusion »
- Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Bagnes, val de » (Jean-Yves Gabbud, version du 03.08.2021)
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vollèges » (Jean-Yves Gabbud, version du 21.07.2021)
- Commune de Val de Bagnes, « Les villages »
- Inventaire PBC, fiche 6603, Le Châble, église Saint-Maurice, ossuaire et ancienne cure, texte de la Société d'histoire de l'art en Suisse
- Inventaire fédéral des biens culturels (PBC), objets de la commune de Val de Bagnes (geo.admin.ch)
Localities of the municipality with a page
Other villages near Val de Bagnes
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