Belp

Belp is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district of the canton of Bern in Switzerland, lying at the mouth of the Gürbetal on the left bank of the Aare river and close to Bern's Belp Airport. The village is first mentioned in 1263 as Belpo, although scattered neolithic finds, Bronze Age cemeteries and La Tène artifacts show that people lived in the area long before. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of the Freiherren of Belp-Montenach, who built Hohberg Castle around 1135 until Bern destroyed it at the Battle of Donnerbühl in 1298 and forced the family to become Bern citizens. Wealthy Bernese families later built country estates here, and the former municipality of Belpberg merged into Belp on 1 January 2012. After that merger Belp covers 23.26 square kilometres and had 11,603 inhabitants in December 2020.