Villarvolard

State :

Switzerland

Canton :

Freiburg (FR)

District :

Gruyère

Municipality :

Corbières

Postal code :

1651

former BFS no. :

2159

Coordinates :

574 627 / 166058 coordinates: 46 ° 38 '43 " N , 7 ° 6' 26" O ; CH1903: five hundred seventy-four thousand six hundred and twenty-seven / 166058

Height :

732 m above sea level M.

Area :

5.46 km²

Residents:

268 (December 31, 2010)

Population density :

49 inhabitants per km²

map

Parish before the merger on January 1, 2011

Villarvolard ( Friborg Patois Velâvolâ ^?^/^I ) was a municipality in the Gruyère district of the canton of Friborg in Switzerland until December 31, 2010 . On January 1, 2011, Villarvolard merged with Corbières .

geography

Villarvolard is 732 m above sea level. M. , five kilometers northeast of the district capital Bulle (linear distance ). The village extends over a wide terrace above the eastern bank of the Lac de la Gruyère reservoir , in the Bulle basin in the Gruyère region on the northern edge of the Alps.

The area of 5.5 km² (with a lake portion of around 6.0 km²) comprises a section of the Bulle basin in the Friborg Alpine foothills . In the west, Villarvolard has a small part of the Lac de la Gruyère. From the relatively steep, wooded bank, the communal soil extends eastwards over the approximately 1 km wide flat terrace of Villarvolard and the mostly densely wooded slope up to the mountain ridge that runs from the Berra to the southwest. The border runs in the east over the Mont Bifé ( 1,483 m above sea level ) and the Vanil des Cours (at 1,562 m above sea level, the highest point in Villarvolard). A small part of the area lies in the catchment area of the Javro east of this mountain ridge. In 1997, 4% of the municipal area was accounted for by settlements, 44% by forests and woodlands and 52% by agriculture.

A few individual farms belong to Villarvolard.

population

With 268 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2010) Villarvolard was one of the small communities in the canton of Friborg. 94.4% of the residents are French-speaking, 3.7% German-speaking and 0.5% English-speaking (as of 2000). The population of Villarvolard was 205 in 1900. After an increase in population up to 1920 (303 inhabitants), there was a decrease of more than 50% to 142 inhabitants by 1970 due to strong emigration. Since then, the population has increased significantly again.

economy

Until the second half of the 20th century, Villarvolard was predominantly an agricultural village. Even today, livestock and dairy farming play an important role in the income structure of the population. A few other jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector (including a company that manufactures building materials). In the last few decades the village has also developed into a residential community. Many people in employment are therefore commuters who work in the Bulle and Freiburg regions.

traffic

The former community is very well developed in terms of traffic. It is located on the main road from Freiburg to Broc . Villarvolard is connected to the public transport network by the Transports publics Fribourgeois bus routes , which operate on the routes from Freiburg to Jaun and from Bulle to Corbières .

history

The first written mention of the place took place in 1179 under the name Vilierbalart . Later the names Vilar Vualar , Vilar Vollar (1228), Vilarwalar (1285), Villarwaular (1453) and Villar volard (1668) appeared. The place name is probably derived from the personal name Walaharius in connection with the late Latin word villare (place, hamlet).

Villarvolard had been part of the Corbières dominion since the Middle Ages , which was sold to Friborg by the Counts of Gruyères in 1553 . The village was then part of the Bailiwick of Corbières. After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Villarvolard belonged to the sub-prefecture of Corbières during the Helvetic period , which was elevated to the status of a district in 1803. In 1848 the village was incorporated with Corbières in the Gruyère district.

Catherine Repond came from Villarvolard and was executed in Freiburg in 1731 for witchcraft . Along with Anna Göldi, she was one of the last women to be executed in a witch trial in Switzerland .

Attractions

The current parish church of Villarvolard was built in 1760 on the site of an earlier church from the 12th century. In 1892 the church was extended and restored. Villarvolard has a picturesque townscape with typical farmhouses from the 17th to 19th centuries, including the Passaplan house from 1777.

Web links

Marianne Rolle: Villarvolard. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .