Bolligen

Bolligen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district of the canton of Bern, Switzerland. In the historical center is a twelfth-century church, with a benefice barn and parsonage from the 16th century. Bolligen is first mentioned in 1180 as Bollingin. Traces of a neolithic settlement were discovered in Burech. There are traces of an earthen fort of an indeterminate age above Flugbrunnen, along with medieval earthen forts at Grauholz and on the Bantiger. Bolligen, Muri bei Bern, Stettlen and Vechigen were the first villages to come under Bern's control as Bern began its expansion into a city-state. During the 13th and 14th centuries, representatives of Bern and the Kyburg Counts often met in Bolligen for negotiations. After the extinction of the Knights of Gerenstein, their castle, Gerenstein Castle and the Geristein farms passed into private ownership. The castle and farm passed through the hands of a number of wealthy Bernese citizens and several monasteries, including Interlaken Abbey and Thorberg Charterhouse. The city of Bern also continued to acquire rights around Bolligen. In 1345 it bought Habstetten from Berchtold of Thornberg. Following the Protestant Reformation in 1528, Bern secularized a number of monasteries around the Canton. From the Thorberg Chapterhouse they acquired the low court in Bolligen and from Interlaken Abbey the rights over Bolligen's church. The Grauholz-Sädelbach woods near Bolligen became a popular summer retreat for Bern's patrician families. An early example of these was the Wegmühle house which was built in 1600 and then renovated in 1669. It was followed by the Hubelgut house in Habstetten in 1670 and in 1720 by the Lindeburg house. The village church of St. Niklaus was first mentioned in 1180. It was probably the family church of the Gerenstein family. The current church was built in the 12th or 13th century and expanded in the 15th century. In 1792-95 it was renovated and repaired. In 1274 Ulrich of Stein gave the patronage over the church to Interlaken Abbey.