Bernex, Switzerland

Bernex is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Geneva, on the left bank of the Rhone river. It was first mentioned in 1256 as Brenay. In 1793 the municipality of Bernex-Onex-Confignon was created, and in 1850 Bernex separated from the other two to form its own municipality. It covers about 12.95 square kilometres, of which roughly 59 percent is used for agriculture and about 16.5 percent is forested. The municipality consists of seven villages and the hamlets of Chevres, Loex, Lully, Cressy, Challoux and Sezenove, and the seven villages are recalled on its coat of arms by seven flames of fire burning at the top of a hill. That hill, the Signal de Bernex at 506 metres, is the highest point of the municipality and the second highest point of the canton of Geneva. Its population was 10,258 in December 2020.