Belfaux

Geschichte

Belfaux is a municipality in the district of Sarine in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. Its former German name was Gumschen, but this is no longer in use.HistoryBelfaux is first mentioned in 12Jh as Bellofago. In 1229 it was mentioned as Bellfozen. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Gumschen, however, that name is no longer used.On 1 January 2016, Belfaux annexed the neighboring municipality of Autafond.GeographyBelfaux has an area, of 6.5km2. Of this area, 3.45km2 or 53.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2km2 or 31.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.94km2 or 14.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03km2 or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01km2 or 0.2% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 9.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, 28.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 35.6% is used for growing crops and 16.6% is pastures, while 1.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 0.3% is in rivers and streams.The municipality is located in the Sarine district. It consists of the villages of Belfaux, Cutterwil and Autafond.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a Beech Tree Vert Trunked and branched Maroon issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second.