Matran (, ) is a municipality in the district of Sarine in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.
History
Matran is first mentioned in 1123 as Martrans. It is then mentioned in 1138 under the name Martrens en Nuithonie. Later it changed to Martrans (1148), Matrans (1157), Martranz (1285), Martrant (1445), Martrand (1555) and Matrang (1668). The place name derives from "Martyrus".
In the Middle Ages the Abbey of Payerne owned much land in Matran. In 1442 the hamlet was sold and came into possession of Fribourg. After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798) Matran belonged, during the Helvetic Republic and later, to the county of Fribourg. In 1848 it became a member of the Saane District of the Canton of Fribourg.
Matran has grown from a sleepy hamlet of a few hundred farmers and their families to a population of over 1,000 inhabitants in the last 25 years. Matran boasts a wonderful gothic parish church dating back to the 16th century with rare 18th-century ceiling paintings depicting the 4 evangelists by an unknown artist, and a gigantic bronze Pieta by Hugo de Matran at the town mortuary.
The town is dominated by the former Kollegium Sankt Joseph, once a boarding school run by the Redemptorist Fathers (C. Ss. R.), which since the early 1990 serves a spiritual retreat for groups. The chapel is frequently used for broadcasts by the TV de la Suisse Romande.
Former students and teachers include the Swiss author Peter Fahr; the Fribourg Cathedral organist and music professor Francois Seydoux (an expert on Alois Moser the organ builder); Luc Seydoux, organist; Father Alois Schmid (C. Ss. R.), author and biology professor at the University of Fribourg; James d'Argantel Odrowaz, painter and author.
Matran is also home to sculptor and painter Hugo de Matran (Hugo Heule).
Geography
Matran has an area, , of . Of this area, or 51.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 19.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 29.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 12.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.4% of the area Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 33.9% is used for growing crops and 17.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Sarine district, on the left bank of the Glane river. It is at an elevation of above sea level and is about from the canton's capital of Fribourg.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Lion rampant Or langued Gules holding upright a Cornucopia of the last filled with Roses of the same leaved Vert.
Demographics
Matran has a population () of . , 15.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 26.4%. Migration accounted for 19.4%, while births and deaths accounted for 5.5%. Most of the population () speaks French (1,103 or 87.5%) as their first language, German is the second most common (95 or 7.5%) and Italian is the third (18 or 1.4%).
, the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% female. The population was made up of 652 Swiss men (41.8% of the population) and 128 (8.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 658 Swiss women (42.2%) and 123 (7.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 259 or about 20.5% were born in Matran and lived there in 2000. There were 614 or 48.7% who were born in the same canton, while 195 or 15.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 173 or 13.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 31.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 8.9%.
, there were 568 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 613 married individuals, 40 widows or widowers and 40 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 435 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 86 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. , a total of 429 apartments (88.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 47 apartments (9.7%) were seasonally occupied and 8 apartments (1.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 41.7 new units per 1000 residents.
The historical population is given in the following chart: