Clarens

Origin of the name Clarens

First known written mention in 1280, in the form « Clarens ». The name, formerly « Clareyns », is said to come from a Germanic personal name derived from the Latin clarus, « clear » (to be cross-checked). In Vaud patois the locality is called « Chlyèrin »; its inhabitants are the Clarensiens.

Founding of Clarens

Clarens is a village in the municipality of Montreux (Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut district), on the shore of Lake Geneva, in a wine-growing area. It formerly belonged to the municipality of Le Châtelard, as one of its seventeen villages and hamlets. In the late 13th century, Girard d'Oron, lord of Le Châtelard, made it a mayoralty (mayorie); Clarens formed a métralie with Tavel and Planchamp. The village always belonged to the parish of Montreux. A small village of 200 inhabitants in 1798, it became a major tourist centre in the 19th century, thanks to the fame given to it by Rousseau and Byron, and then to the arrival of the railway.

History of Clarens

1280. First known written mention of Clarens.

late 13th century. Girard d'Oron, lord of Le Châtelard, makes Clarens a mayoralty (mayorie); the village forms a métralie with Tavel and Planchamp.

1746. Road improvements begin.

18th century. Jean-Jacques Rousseau sets his novel « Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse » in Clarens, making the village famous.

1798. Clarens has 200 inhabitants.

1816. Lord Byron visits Clarens and mentions it in his « Epistle to Augusta »; the village becomes a major tourist destination.

1817. The Clarens cemetery is laid out; it is enlarged from 1868 to 1886.

1861. Clarens railway station opens.

1864. The Château des Crêtes is built.

1874-1876. The 21 « Villas Dubochet » are built.

1878. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composes his Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35, in Clarens in March and April.

1879-1890. The geographer Elisée Reclus lives in Clarens.

1888. Inauguration of the electric tramway line through Clarens, the first in Switzerland; it is replaced by a trolleybus in 1957.

1900. Clarens has 2'513 inhabitants.

1911. The Clarens-Chailly-Blonay railway opens.

1914. Clarens has 27 guesthouses and hotels.

12 July 1922. An extremely violent storm hits the region: 91 mm of rain in two hours and a torrent of mud that devastates vineyards and infrastructure.

1937. The Reformed church of Clarens is consecrated.

1959-1962. The Catholic church of Sainte-Thérèse is built by the architect Pierre Dumas.

1962. The merger of Le Châtelard and Les Planches creates the municipality of Montreux, to which Clarens now belongs.

Population of Clarens

Population of Clarens

1798	200 inhabitants
1900	2'513 inhabitants

Historic sites in Clarens

Château des Crêtes. Residence built in 1864, one of the sites the municipality of Montreux recommends visiting.

Villas Dubochet. Group of 21 villas built from 1874 to 1876. Paul Kruger, a figure of the Boer War, had his last residence here (villa no. 17) and died here.

Clarens cemetery. Laid out in 1817 and enlarged from 1868 to 1886, it holds among others the graves of the writer Henri-Frédéric Amiel, the theologian Alexandre Vinet, the writer Eugène Rambert, the economist Léon Walras, the painter Oskar Kokoschka, the writer Vladimir Nabokov and the soprano Joan Sutherland.

Sainte-Thérèse church. Catholic church on the avenue Alexandre Vinet, built from 1959 to 1962 by the architect Pierre Dumas.

Île de Salagnon. Located opposite the port of Le Basset, it is one of the islands of Lake Geneva; the Villa Salagnon stands on it.

Château du Châtelard. Centre of the former lordship of Le Châtelard, whose lord Girard d'Oron made Clarens a mayoralty, it is one of the monuments of Clarens (see the Le Châtelard entry).

Sources

• Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Clarens »
• Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Châtelard, Le (VD) »
• Wikipédia (FR), « Clarens (Vaud) »
• Commune de Montreux, « Clarens »
• Wikipedia (DE), « Montreux »
• Wikipedia (EN), « Montreux »
• Statistique Vaud, « Population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2025 »

Other villages near Clarens

• Le Châtelard (VD)
• Chailly-Montreux (VD)
• Brent (VD)
• Chernex (VD)
• Chamby (VD)