Buman Castle (Avry)

Buman Castle is located in the heart of the village of Avry, not far from the schools and the chapel. With its turrets, this manor house resembles a castle. This patrician residence, which probably replaced an older dwelling, was presumably built shortly before 1704. The owner, Pancrace von Buman, belonged to one of the most distinguished patrician families of Fribourg.

Looking at the genealogy of this family, one finds that they were connected to other great Fribourg names, such as von Féguely, von Gottrau, von Alt, von Diesbach, von Reynold. It seems that Avry Castle was part of the dowry that Anne-Marie de Gottrau brought to her husband Pancrace von Buman. He – the son of a nobleman also named Pancrace, and the bailiff of Surpierre from 1657 to 1662 – was a member of the Council of Two Hundred then of the Sixty, was mayor and city major. Avry Castle remained the property of the von Buman family until 1902. One of the last owners, Tobie von Buman, was a captain in the service of the King of Naples. His daughter-in-law, Joséphine von Buman, née Fivaz, left the property of Avry to the engineer Rudolph von Weck (1861-1927), who was called "von Weck of the Trams". In 1897, he directed the construction of the Fribourg-Morat-Anet railway line. Rudolph von Weck was administrator and director of the Fribourg Tramway Company from 1897 until his death. The castle then belonged to Mr. Wilhelm Egloff of Bern. It then became the property of the Favre family, then through marriage, the Clerc family, farmers.