Belp Castle

Belp Castle is a 13th-century castle in the municipality of Belp in the canton of Bern. Together with its associated residential building and the 16th-century Käfigturm (Cage Tower), which is now used as a village museum, it is a monument of regional importance. Renovated in 1992, the castle was used by the Bernese cantonal administration. Until December 31, 2009, it housed the district administration of the Seftigen office: the Government Governor's Office, the judicial authorities of the judicial district IX Schwarzenburg-Seftigen, as well as a department of the district land registry office IX and the debt enforcement and bankruptcy office.

Belp Castle was the seat of a private barony, whose castle on the northern edge of the Belpberg was abandoned in the 15th century and replaced by several fortified houses in the village. Since the 14th century, the lords of the manor were citizens of the city of Bern. From 1631 to 1636/44, the complex was doubled in size to its current extent, supplemented by the castle northeast and distinguished by the tall stair tower. In 1798, the manorial rights definitively fell to the state. It was not until 1812 that the canton bought the castle and its estates from Carl von Wattenwyl to establish a seat for the newly created Seftigen office. Belp Castle is therefore comparable to similar private manorial seats such as Münsingen, Toffen, Burgistein, or Kiesen. The Käfigturm was built in 1542 as the official prison of the private lordship of Belp. With the state of Bern taking over the castle grounds, the tower served as a cantonal prison and part of the castle.

Belp Castle is a grown monument with almost 600 years of building history; it is characterized by alterations in the 17th and late 18th centuries on the exterior, and from the 17th to 20th centuries on the interior. As a monumental dominant feature in the village center, the stair tower still surpasses the church tower today, Belp Castle bears eloquent witness to the importance of the private lords who held high and low jurisdiction here. The late Baroque reshaping of two late medieval manorial buildings and their connection by means of the now developed peristyle constitute the charm of the entire Belp Castle complex. Remarkable building elements inside bear witness to the luxurious furnishings of the private builders.

In the canton of Bern, only a few old prison buildings have been preserved in this form; the Käfigturm Belp is undoubtedly the most sophisticated and striking of them. It is a late Gothic tower, very sparsely lit, with a set-back top floor. The condition from the time of construction is largely preserved externally, and partly internally.

The residential building at Rubigenstrasse 16, renovated in 1989, probably only passed into cantonal ownership in 1908. It is a typical representative of the late Classicist/Romantic Swiss timber style, which can be found several times in Belp. It contains one spacious apartment per floor.