Matran (French: [matʁɑ̃], Franco-Provençal: [maˈtʁɑ̃] ⓘ) is a municipality in the district of Sarine in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.

After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798) Matran belonged, during the Helvetic Republic and later, to the county 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.

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.

Of the rest of the land, 0.85 km2 (0.33 sq mi) or 29.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02 km2 (4.9 acres) or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes.

It is at an elevation of 614 m (2,014 ft) above sea level and is about 5.5 km (3.4 mi) from the canton's capital of Fribourg.

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.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 27.7% of the vote.

In the tertiary sector; 297 or 67.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 1.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 31 or 7.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 65 or 14.7% were in the information industry, 15 or 3.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 10 or 2.3% were in education.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 1,018 or 80.7% were Roman Catholic, while 84 or 6.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.