Belp

Belp is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is close to Bern's Belp Airport. The municipality of Belpberg merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Belp. Belp is first mentioned in 1263 as Belpo. Scattered neolithic artifacts indicate that the Belp area was inhabited prehistorically. Bronze Age cemeteries and La Tène artifacts show that there were villages near modern Belp before the Roman invasion. After the collapse of the Roman Empire the area may have been uninhabited, but by the High Middle Ages there were villages and wooden castles here. Very little is known about Fahrhubel Castle, located about north-west of the Hunzigenbrücke (Hunzigen Bridge), and it was eventually completely demolished. Hohberg Castle, on the northern slope of the Belpberg, was the ancestral seat of the Freiherren of Belp-Montenach. It was built around 1135 and today only ruins remain. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the family expanded their authority from Belp to include neighboring villages. In 1277 they created the Herrschaft of Belp to include all their estates and villages. Their expanding power brought them into conflict with the growing city-state of Bern and in 1298 Bern attacked Belp. At the Battle of Donnerbühl or Dornbühl in 1298 Bern destroyed the castle. Eight years later, in 1306, they forced the Freiherren of Belp-Montenach to become citizens of Bern and give up their independence. The Hölzernes Schloss or Wooden Castle was built in 1327 by the Freiherr in Belp village. By the late 14th century the male line of the Belp-Montenach family died out and Belp and the surrounding lands were acquired by a noble family in Bern. Over the following centuries, Belp passed through several noble families. In 1550-54 the von Luternau family built the Old Castle in the village across from the Wooden Castle. The Old Castle was the administrative seat of the Herrschaft during the 16th and 17th centuries. By the 18th century, wealthy Bernese families began moving to Belp to escape the noise and crowding in the city.