Barberêche

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Canton	Fribourg
District	See/Lac
Coordinates	46°51′N 7°10′E
Population	574 (2003)
Area	9.13 km²
Elevation	569 m
Postal code	1783
SFOS number	2243
Website	www.barbereche.ch
Barberêche

Barberêche is a municipality in the District du Lac (Seebezirk in German) in the Swiss canton of Fribourg (Freiburg). It lies on the "language boundary" between the French- and German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and so also bears a German name: Bärfischen. In 2003 its population was 574.

1 Geography
2 Land use
3 Population centres
4 Population
- 4.1 Language
5 Economy
6 Transportation
7 History
8 Sightseeing in Barberêche
9 Famous people from Barberêche
10 External links
11 Source

[edit] Geography

Barberêche lies 569 m above sea level, and is 5.5 km north of the cantonal capital, Fribourg (Freiburg). The surrounding rural municipality stretches along the north shore of the Schiffenensee, a small lake through which flows the river Saane, at the foot of the Grand Bois ("Great Wood") hill on the Swiss plateau. Barberêche's coördinates are 46° 51' N, 7° 10' E.

Barberêche's location in Switzerland

The municipality's area is 9.1 km², and includes a part of the Swiss plateau's molasse uplands. The sprawling, yet narrow, area is bordered on the southeast by the Schiffenensee. All along this reservoir's shoreline in the Barberêche area is a 20- to 50-m-high dike topped with trees, broken here and there by sandstone cliffs. Several gullies carved by erosion empty into the lake; these have been partially flooded owing to the creation of the reservoir. The gullies divide the terrace that Barberêche is built on into several small plateaux, which themselves are abutted in the northwest by the molasse hill.

In the farthest south and southwest, the municipality area reaches beyond the Courtepin Valley to the flats at the mouth of the stream La Sonnaz where it empties into the Schiffenensee. From here westwards, the district stretches to the Bois de la Corbaz (a wood), which reaches 650 m above sea level, and to the edge of the Bois de l'Hôpital ("Hospital Wood") (660 m above sea level). Towards the northeast, the municipality stretches over the Breilles Heights — which at 668 m above sea level are Barberêche's highest point — the Bouley Forest, and the Grand Bois, as well as the Bulliardholz (another wood; 660 m), and on to the foot of the "Great Wood" (Grossholz) at Kleingurmels.

Local map of Barberêche area

[edit] Land use

In 1997, uses for the municipality's land broke down thus:

Habitation: 5%
Forest and Wood: 21%
Agriculture: 60%
Unproductive (lakeside flats): 14%

[edit] Population centres

Barberêche consists of several centres, namely:

the village itself, Barberêche, 569 m above sea level.
the village Pensier (Ger.: Penzers), 584 m above sea level, up from the mouth of the Sonnaz on the Schiffenensee.
the hamlet Hobelet (Ger.: Hubel), 655 m above sea level, on the heights above Pensier.
the hamlet Villaret, 610 m above sea level, above the Courtepin Valley.
the hamlet Breilles (Ger.: Brigels), 640 m above sea level, on the edge of the Bouley.
the hamlet Petit Vivy (Ger.: Klein-Vivers), 590 m above sea level, on the terrace above the Schiffenensee east of the Grand Bois.
the hamlet Grand Vivy (Ger.: Gross-Vivers), 565 m above sea level, on the terrace above the Schiffenensee east of the Bulliardholz.
the hamlet Grimoine (Ger.: Courmoen), 565 m above sea level, on the terrace above the Schiffenensee south of Kleingurmels.

Neighbouring municipalities to Barberêche are La Sonnaz, Misery-Courtion, Courtepin, Gurmels and Düdingen.

[edit] Population

With only 574 inhabitants, Barberêche is among the smaller communities in the canton of Fribourg. The most heavily populated place in the municipality is Pensier with about 250 people; only about 100 people live in the village of Barberêche itself. Historically, Barberêche's population has varied from 389 in 1850 to 507 in 1900, reaching its highest ever point in 1960, when there were 674 residents. By 1980, though, the population had declined by over 25% to 499 as people left Barberêche. Since then, the population figure has rebounded somewhat.

[edit] Language

French-speaking residents of Barberêche number 74.2% while German-speaking people account for 21.8%. Also, 1.3 % of Barberêche's population are Portuguese-speaking (as of 2000). Until the 15th century, the local language was almost exclusively German. The French-speaking community slowly grew until in the 18th and 19th centuries, the village was bilingual. French has been the majority language in Barberêche since about 1860.

[edit] Economy

Barberêche was until the second half of the 20th century a village whose livelihood was firmly rooted in agriculture. Even today, tilling the soil, growing fruit, and raising cattle are important to the local economy. Other jobs are to be found in small business and the service sector. There is a commercial area in Pensier. Until 1976, there was a boarding school at Barberêche (Institut Saint-Dominique). Over the last few decades, the village has developed itself into a bedroom community. Many of the residents nowadays are commuters who work in Fribourg.

[edit] Transportation

The municipality is well connected, even though it lies far from the main highways. The nearest expressway interchange, A12 (Bern-Vevey) lies about 5 km from the centre of the municipality. On 23 August 1898, the railway line from Fribourg to Murten opened, with a station in Pensier. The village of Barberêche itself has no public transport connections.

[edit] History

The Barberêche area was settled quite early on, as witnessed by archaeological finds of graves from Hallstatt times and foundations from Roman times.

The first documentary mention of Barberêche dates from 1154 under the name Barbereschi. Later names included Barberesche (1173), Barbaresche (1180), Barbareschi (1182) and Barbarica (1423). The placename goes back to an old family name Barbar(i)us.

There is evidence to show that, as of the 12th century, there was a noble family in Barberêche. The Barberêche Lordship fell in the beginning under the Dukes of Zähringen, and then later became a fiefdom of the Counts of Thierstein, before a series of changes in ownership in the 15th century. In 1442, Barberêche became part of the Alte Landschaft ("Old Territory") of Fribourg (Spitalpanner). After the collapse of the Ancien Régime in 1798, during the Helvetic Republic and the time following, the village belonged to the District of Fribourg, and from 1831 to the German District of Fribourg, before it was annexed to the Seebezirk ("Lake District") under the new cantonal constitution in 1848.

[edit] Sightseeing in Barberêche

The oldest parts of the parish church of Saint Maurice date back to the 11th century. It was enlarged in 1785-86 and underwent modifications in the 19th century. It has a quire with a semicircular apse and overhanging arcades in early mediaeval style. The church contains wall paintings from the 18th century, woodcarvings, and coats of arms in the stained glass. The parsonage next to the church dates from 1566.

On the edge of the plateau, right above the Schiffenensee, stands Barberêche Castle. It was built between 1522 and 1528, likely on the site of an earlier fortification, under Petermann de Praroman's direction in the late Gothic style. From 1839 until 1844, the castle underwent considerable remodelling, whereby the castle took its current shape in the neo-Gothic and neoclassical styles. The castle is today privately owned.

Furthermore, over the dike surrounding the Schiffenensee, northeast of Barberêche, stands Petit-Vivy castle. It is among the oldest preserved castles in the region. The still-preserved, mighty, four-sided keep was built in the second half of the 13th century, and has 3.5-m-thick walls. Around the keep are the remains of former surrounding walls, arranged in triangular form. The residential buildings were built in the 16th century.

Farther northeast is Grand-Vivy castle on a narrow outcrop between the Schiffenensee and a small sidestream. This was also the site of a mediaeval castle, but this was replaced by today's late-Gothic structure with its semicircular stairway tower, and other tower construction. The chapel next to the castle was built in the 19th century.