Monastery information | |
---|---|
Order | Premonstratensian |
Established | 1140 |
Disestablished | 1798 |
People | |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Cantonal Psychiatric Clinic |
Heritage designation | Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance |
Architect | Franz Beer |
Style | Vorarlberg Baroque |
Site | |
Coordinates | 47°15′50″N7°10′07″E / 47.26389°N 7.16861°E Coordinates: 47°15′50″N7°10′07″E / 47.26389°N 7.16861°E |
Public access | yes |
Bellelay Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery in the Bernese Jura in Switzerland, now a psychiatric clinic. It is a heritage site of national significance and the entire former Abbey complex is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. [1]
According to the legend, the monastery was founded in 1136 by Siginand, prior of the abbey of Moutier-Grandval, who got lost in the deep forest of the High Jura while hunting a wild boar and was unable to find his way out. [2] He vowed to found a monastery if he managed to return safely to Moutier, which he did four days later. To the monastery he founded in accordance with his vow he gave the name of "belle laie" ("laie" is a female wild boar).
According to other sources, the monastery was probably founded as a result of the influence of the Bishop of Basel on the south-west border of the diocese of Basel with the territory of the Abbot of Moutier-Grandval. [2]
The foundation was confirmed by Pope Innocent II in 1142. [3] There are numerous spelling variations from the early years of the monastery: Balelaia, Belelagia, Belelai, Belilaia, Bellale, Bella Lagia, Bellelagia and Bellilagia. The name comes from the Vulgar Latin bella lagia ("beautiful forest").
The abbey possessed various estates widely scattered. It was the mother-house of several other foundations, including Grandgourt Priory, Gottstatt Abbey and Himmelspforte Abbey at Grenzach-Wyhlen in Baden-Württemberg. [2]
Bellelay was under the authority of the diocese of Basel, but operated as an independent lordship under the terms of a protection contract agreed with Bern and Solothurn (by 1414 at the latest) and also with Biel in 1516.
Although the abbot had the right of the low justice in the abbey's immediate territory, and was awarded the right to the use of the ring, the mitre and the cross at the Council of Constance in 1414, it does not seem that Bellelay was ever an Imperial abbey.
The buildings were ransacked during the Swabian War in 1499. During the Protestant Reformation some of the residents converted to the new faith. However, thanks to the treaty with Solothurn the monastery was spared the effects of the Thirty Years' War. The abbey reached its golden age in the 18th century as a renowned place of education for the sons of European nobility. During the 18th century the monastery buildings were rebuilt and a new church building was dedicated in 1714. The monastery university opened in 1772 and by 1779 it had 62 pupils from throughout Europe. A new dormitory wing was added in 1782 to accommodate the growing student population and by 1797 there were about 100 students at Bellelay. [2]
In 1797 the buildings were occupied by French troops and secularised. The precious furnishings were sold at this time – an altar from Bellelay, for example, is now to be found in the parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Saignelégier.
In the 19th century the monastery premises were used as a watch factory, then as a brewery and finally as a glass factory. In 1890 the Canton of Bern acquired the site, from which time the monastery buildings have been used as a psychiatric clinic.
Since the end of the 1960s the premises have also been used for concerts and exhibitions by the Fondation de l'Abbatiale de Bellelay.
The present structure of the abbey church of the Assumption was built by Franz Beer on the Vorarlberg Baroque model between 1708 and 1714. The church has two towers on the west front which formerly had onion domes. The interior is decorated with painted stucco by the Wessobrunn School, created in 1713. The other monastery buildings in the Baroque style are also from the 18th century.
Bellelay Abbey is the home of the cheese Tête de Moine, first made by the monks in the 12th century. [4]
Moutier is a municipality in Switzerland. Currently, the town belongs to the Jura bernois administrative district of the canton of Bern. On 28 March 2021, the population voted to secede from the canton of Bern and join the Canton of Jura; the decision however is not immediately operative and entails a lengthy process of transfer of competences between cantonal authorities.
Grandval is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura. Grandval also used to be known under its German name Granfel or Granfelden, but these forms are no longer commonly used.
Loveresse is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura.
Saicourt is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It comprises the localities of Le Fuet, Bellelay, La Bottiere and Montbautier. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura.
Gembloux Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Wallonia near the town of Gembloux in the province of Namur, Belgium. Since 1860, its buildings host the University of Liège's Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty and campus.
The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy was a loose confederation of independent small states initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland.
Col de Pierre Pertuis is a mountain pass in the Jura Mountains in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Murbach Abbey was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges.
Tête de Moine is a type of cheese manufactured in Switzerland. It is classified as a Swiss-type or Alpine cheese, and was invented and initially produced more than eight centuries ago by the monks of the abbey of Bellelay, located in the community of Saicourt, district of Moutier, in the mountainous zone of the Bernese Jura, the French-speaking area of the Canton of Bern.
The Prince-Bishopric of Basel was an ecclesiastical principality within the Holy Roman Empire, ruled from 1032 by prince-bishops with their seat at Basel, and from 1528 until 1792 at Porrentruy, and thereafter at Schliengen. As an imperial estate, the prince-bishop had seat and vote at the Imperial Diet. The final dissolution of the state occurred in 1803 as part of the German Mediatisation.
Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in northern France (Ile-de-France), situated in Cernay-la-Ville, in the Diocese of Versailles, Yvelines.
Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee was a Bishop of Basel and a leader in the Counter-Reformation in the region around Basel.
Moutier-Grandval Abbey was a Benedictine abbey near the villages of Moutier and Grandval in today's Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was founded around 640, when Grandval already existed; Moutier grew up around the abbey.
St. Urban's Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in the municipality of Pfaffnau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Schlossberg Castle is a castle in the municipality of La Neuveville of the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Valbirse is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura.
Ter Doest Abbey was a Cistercian abbey in Belgium, in the present Lissewege, a district of Bruges, West Flanders.
Eglolf Blarer was abbot of the Abbey of Saint Gall from 1426 to 1442.
The Saint-Maur Abbey, originally called the Abbaye des Fossés, is a former abbey now disappeared in the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés suburb of Paris, France. The remains and the domain of the abbey have been transformed into a pleasure park named Parc de l'abbaye. The former abbey building has been replaced by a square at the corner of Avenue de Condé and Rue de l'Abbaye. Some ruins remain, such as the Rabelais tower, the 19th century Bourières villa and the old fortifications. The remains of the abbey have been classified as historical monuments since June 13, 1988.