Châtel-sur-Montsalvens sits on a hillside overlooking the Jogne valley. Originally, the village was part of the barony of Montsalvens (County of Gruyère), with a fortified village below.

THREE HISTORICAL HAMMALS

The original village is made up of three terraced hamlets overlooking the Jogne gorges: Châtel-Dessous, Châtel-Dessus and Les Planets.

A remarkable house dating from 1795 adjoins the chapel, with its splendid facade decorated with arcades and lozenges. To its left is the large double house, also from the late 18th century, typical of the Charmysan model with a front gable. The gallery with its attic balconies was once used to dry the straw, and the series of windows grouped together provided the light needed for weaving or weaving at home.

CHAPEL

A central feature of the hamlet-street of Châtel-Dessous, the chapel was inaugurated in 1701 in the style of the many rural chapels in the Gruyère region in the 17th century, modelled on the old chapel at Crésuz. Its vault, made of long wooden slats known as "berceau lambrissé", houses a high altar composed of two superimposed tabernacles and a representation of Saints Nicolas and Magne. The nave is decorated with a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The bell, cast in 1746, was donated by the Savary family. Although the canons of the collegiate church of Saint-Nicolas in Fribourg, who were collators, refused their authorisation, the bishop gave his consent, on condition that the grand mass on Sundays was never said at a fixed time, that the chaplain from Broc could collect the offerings without residing there and that Châtel remained within the bosom of its mother parish, Broc. In 1850, the parishioners obtained their attachment to the parish of Crésuz.

In collaboration with the commune of Châtel-sur-Montsalvens