Neuchâtel, Switzerland

History | Antiquity | History : Middle Ages | Early modern era | Modern Neuchâtel | Geography | Language | Religion | Crime | Economy | Education | Transport | Heritage sites | Architecture | Museums | Culture | Sport

🇨🇭 Neuchâtel is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel.

With the fusion of the municipalities Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin the city form the heart of a larger metropolitan area. The city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name Neuenburg, which has the same meaning. It was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and later under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848, with an interruption during the Napoleonic Wars from 1802 to 1814. In 1848, Neuchâtel became a republic and a canton of Switzerland.

Neuchâtel is a centre of the Swiss watch industry, the site of micro-technology and high-tech industries, and home to research centres and organizations such as the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and Philip Morris International's Cube. The apparel company heidi.com established its headquarters in the city.

The official language of Neuchâtel is French. Neuchâtel is a pilot of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural Cities programme.

History The oldest traces of humans in the municipal area are the remains of a Magdalenian hunting camp, which was dated to 13,000 BC. It was discovered in 1990 during construction of the A5 motorway at Monruz (La Coudre). The site was about 5 m (16 ft) below the main road. Around the fire pits carved flints and bones were found. In addition to the flint and bone artifacts three tiny earrings from lignite were found. The earrings may have served as symbols of fertility and represent the oldest known art in Switzerland. This first camp was used by Cro-Magnons to hunt horse and reindeer in the area. Azilian hunters had a camp at the same site at about 11,000 BC. Since the climate had changed, their prey was now deer and wild boar.

During the 19th century, traces of some stilt houses were found in Le Cret near the red church. However, their location was not well documented and the site was lost. In 1999, during construction of the lower station of the funicular railway, which connects the railway station and university, the settlement was rediscovered. It was later determined to be a Cortaillod culture (middle Neolithic) village. According to dendrochronological studies, some of the piles were from 3571 BC.

A Hallstatt grave (early Iron Age) was found in the forest of Les Cadolles.

Antiquity At Les Favarger a Gallo-Roman and at André Fontaine a small coin depot were discovered. In 1908, an excavation at the mouth of the Serrière  discovered Gallo-Roman baths from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

History: Middle Ages One of the most important Merovingian cemeteries in the canton was discovered at Les Battieux in Serrières. In 1982, 38 graves dating from the 7th century were excavated many of which contained silver-inlaid or silver-plated belt buckles. Also in Serrières at the church of Saint-Jean, the remains of a 7th-century shrine were excavated.

In 1011, Rudolph III of Burgundy presented a Novum castellum or new castle on the lake shore to his wife, Ermengarde. It was long assumed that this new castle replaced an older one, but nothing about its location or design is known. At the time of this gift Neuchâtel was probably the centre of a newly created royal court, which was recently developed to complement the other royal estates which managed western estates of the kings of Burgundy.

The first counts of Neuchâtel were named shortly afterwards, and in 1214 their domain was officially dubbed a city.

Early modern era For three centuries, the County of Neuchâtel flourished, and in 1530, the people of Neuchâtel accepted the Reformation, and their city and territory were proclaimed to be indivisible from then on. Future rulers were required to seek investiture from the citizens.

With increasing power and prestige, Neuchâtel was raised to the level of a principality at the beginning of the 17th century. On the death in 1707 of Marie d'Orleans-Longueville, duchess de Nemours and Princess of Neuchâtel, the people had to choose her successor from among fifteen claimants. They wanted their new prince first and foremost to be a Protestant, and also to be strong enough to protect their territory but based far enough away to leave them to their own devices. Louis XIV actively promoted the many French pretenders to the title, but the Neuchâtelois people passed them over in favour of King Frederick I of Prussia, who claimed his entitlement in a rather complicated fashion through the Houses of Orange and Nassau. With the requisite stability assured, Neuchâtel entered its golden age, with commerce and industry (including watchmaking and lace) and banking undergoing steady expansion.

Modern Neuchâtel At the beginning of the 19th century, Prussia sought to obtain Hanover whilst still maintaining neutrality and abstaining from the wars waged by Napoleon. Frederick William III had hoped that Prussia could receive the Electorate of Hanover from France only after the event of a British defeat and a resulting treaty, lest Prussia be forced to enter war alongside France against Britain over the territory, with which Britain had been in personal union since 1714. To achieve these aims of receiving Hanover with a simultaneous preservation of neutrality, Prussia offered to give up certain exclaves to the French, however, Napoleon exploited Prussia's politically isolated position and forced Prussia to give up more than had been hoped, partake in the Continental Blockade, and to officially annex Hanover in the Treaty of Paris on 15 February 1806, resulting in the cession of the principality of Neuchâtel to Napoleon. Napoleon's field marshal, Berthier, became Prince of Neuchâtel, building roads and restoring infrastructure, but never actually setting foot in his domain. After the fall of Napoleon, Frederick William III of Prussia reasserted his rights by proposing that Neuchâtel be linked with the other Swiss cantons (to exert better influence over all of them). On 12 September 1814, Neuchâtel became the capital of the 21st canton, but also remained a Prussian principality. It took a bloodless revolution in the decades following for Neuchâtel to shake off its princely past and declare itself, on 1 March 1848, a republic within the Swiss Confederation. Prussia yielded its claim to the canton following the 1856–1857 Neuchâtel Crisis.

On 1 January 2021 the former municipalities of Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux and Valangin merged into the municipality of Neuchâtel. Corcelles-Cormondrèche was first mentioned in the historical record in 1092 as Curcellis. Around 1220 it was mentioned as Cormundreschi. Peseux was first mentioned in 1195 as apud Pusoz though this comes from a 15th-century copy of an earlier document. In 1278 it was mentioned as de Posoys. Valangin was first mentioned in 1241 as de Valengiz.

Geography Before the 2021 merger of municipalities, Neuchâtel had an area, as of 2009, of 18.1 square km (7.0 sq mi). Of this area, 1.84 km² (0.71 sq mi) or 10.2% was used for agricultural purposes, while 9.74 km² (3.76 sq mi) or 53.8% was forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.42 km² (2.48 sq mi) or 35.5% was settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acres) or 0.2% was either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km² (4.9 acres) or 0.1% was unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 18.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 10.1%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 51.8% of the total land area was heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.4% was used for growing crops and 8.0% was pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.

The city is located on the north-western shore of Lake Neuchâtel, a few km east of Peseux and west of Saint-Blaise. Above Neuchâtel, roads and train tracks rise steeply into the folds and ridges of the Jura range—known within the canton as the Montagnes neuchâteloises. Like the continuation of the mountains on either side, this is wild and hilly country, not exactly mountainous compared with the high Alps further south but still characterized by remote, windswept settlements and deep, rugged valleys. It is also the heartland of the celebrated Swiss watchmaking industry, centered on the once-famous towns of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, which both rely heavily on their horological past to draw in visitors. The river Doubs marks for a part the border with France, set down in a gorge and forming along its path a waterfall, the Saut du Doubs and lake, the Lac des Brenets.

The municipality was the capital of Neuchâtel District, until the district level of administration was eliminated on 1 January 2018.

Language Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (25,881 or 78.6%) as their first language, German is the second most common (1,845 or 5.6%) and Italian is the third (1,421 or 4.3%). There are about six people who speak Romansh.

Religion Neuchâtel was historically Protestant, but Catholics have since formed a plurality due to immigration. From the 2000 census, 10,809 or 32.8% were Roman Catholic, while 9,443 or 28.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 374 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.14% of the population), there were 80 individuals (or about 0.24% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 1,756 individuals (or about 5.34% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 58 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who were Jewish, and 1,723 (or about 5.23% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 99 individuals who were Buddhist, 100 individuals who were Hindu and 59 individuals who belonged to another church. 7,549 (or about 22.94% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,717 individuals (or about 5.22% of the population) did not answer the question.

Crime In 2014 the crime rate, of crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code, in Neuchâtel was 140.4 per thousand residents. During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 16.3 per thousand residents. The rate of violations of immigration, visa and work permit laws was 5.7 per thousand residents.

Economy Neuchâtel is a centre of the watch industry, and is also the site of micro-technology and high-tech industries. It is home to research centres and organizations such as the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), Microcity innovation pole, University of applied Sciences HE-Arc in Engineering and also Philip Morris International's Cube. The apparel company heidi.com also established its headquarters in the city.

As of  2010, Neuchâtel had an unemployment rate of 7.5%. As of 2008, there were 46 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 5,658 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 261 businesses in this sector. 20,472 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,955 businesses in this sector. There were 16,353 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which women made up 45.4% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 21,624. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 38, of which 20 were in agriculture and 18 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 5,433 of which 4,234 or (77.9%) were in manufacturing, 9 or (0.2%) were in mining and 1,022 (18.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 16,153. In the tertiary sector; 2,397 or 14.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 796 or 4.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 919 or 5.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 766 or 4.7% were in the information industry, 1,077 or 6.7% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,897 or 11.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 1,981 or 12.3% were in education and 2,633 or 16.3% were in health care.

In 2000, there were 15,535 workers who commuted into the municipality and 6,056 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.6 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 33.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 43.4% used a private car.

Education Neuchâtel is home to the French-speaking University of Neuchâtel. The university has five faculties and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law, economics and theology. For the 2005–2006 academic year, 3,595 students (1,987 women and 1,608 men) were enrolled. The Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences is the largest school of those that comprise the university of Neuchâtel with 1,500 students. Some courses at the university are taught in English.

Neuchâtel is home to the Éditions Alphil, which is a university press founded in 1996.

Neuchâtel is home to eight libraries: the Bibliothèque de la Faculté des Lettres, the Bibliothèque de l'Institut d'ethnologie et du Musée d'ethnographie, the Bibliothèque de la Faculté des Sciences, the Bibliothèque de droit, the Bibliothèque des sciences économiques, the Bibliothèque de la Faculté de théologie, the Service de coordination des bibliothèques and the Haute école Arc – Santé. There was a combined total (as of 2008) of 736,773 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 58,427 items were loaned out.

In Neuchâtel about 11,076 or (33.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 5,948 or (18.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 5,948 who completed tertiary schooling, 43.6% were Swiss men, 28.4% were Swiss women, 16.4% were non-Swiss men and 11.6% were non-Swiss women.

In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010–11 school year, there were 27 kindergarten classes with a total of 527 students in Neuchâtel. In the same year, there were 78 primary classes with a total of 1,424 students. Secondary schools include the Lycée Jean-Piaget.

Apart from one International Montessori school for kids up to age 11 offering an English and a French class there is no international school in Neuchâtel. Neuchâtel Junior College was founded in 1956 as a non-profit foundation of the Ville de Neuchâtel to provide a unique international education. Neuchâtel Junior College is a one-year school annually welcoming over 100 students in their final pre-university year to study the Ontario Grade 12 curriculum as well as Advanced Placement.

As of 2000, there were 3,859 students in Neuchâtel who came from another municipality, while 346 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transport Neuchâtel has local public transport provided by Les Transports Publics du Littoral Neuchâtelois (TN), which operates the Neuchâtel trolleybus system, a funicular, and an interurban light rail line to Boudry. The total length of the TN network is 81.2 km (50.5 mi). It serves 78,400 people (more than half using it on a daily basis) and in 2007 transported 17,670,000 travelers.

Neuchâtel railway station forms part of one of Switzerland's most important railway lines, the Jura foot railway (Olten–Genève-Aéroport), which is operated by the Swiss Federal Railways. The station is also a junction for several other lines, including a cross-border line served by the TGV (High Speed Train), with direct trains linking Neuchâtel to Paris in four hours.

Neuchâtel's airport is about 6 km (3.7 mi) away from the centre of the city and it takes 9 minutes to get into town with the direct tramway. It is a small airport that does not offer commercial flights. Neuchâtel is also linked to four international airports: Bern, Geneva, Basel and Zürich which are respectively 58 km (36 mi), 122 km (76 mi), 131 km (81 mi) and 153 km (95 mi) away by car. Geneva and Zürich airports both have direct trains to Neuchâtel, connecting the cities respectively in 1h 17min and 1h 49min. Three funiculars serve the city: • The Funambule, linking the lower part of the town, near the university, to the railway station • The Funiculaire Ecluse–Plan • The Funiculaire La Coudre–Chaumont

The Société de Navigation sur les Lacs de Neuchâtel et Morat SA is the boat company which serves 17 towns on Lake Neuchâtel, 6 towns on Lake Murten and 7 towns on Lake Bienne from 6:30am to 9pm. Some boats offer free wireless internet connections.

Heritage sites There are 34 sites in Neuchâtel that are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Neuchâtel, the urban village of Corcelles the small city of Valangin, the Bussy/Le Sorgereux region and the La Borcarderie region are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Architecture Neuchâtel's Old Town has about 140 street fountains, a handful of which date from the 16th century. The Place des Halles is overlooked by Louis XIV architecture – shuttered façades and the turreted orioles of the 16th-century Maison des Halles. To the east, on Rue de l’Hôpital, is the grand 1790 Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), designed by Louis XVI's chief architect Pierre-Adrien Paris.

The centre of the Old Town is located at the top of the hill, accessed by the steeply winding Rue du Château. The Collégiale church, begun in 1185 and consecrated in 1276, is an example of early Gothic. The east end of the church has three Norman apses. The main entrance, to the west, is crowned by a giant rose window of stained glass. Within the vaulted interior, the transept is lit by a lantern tower. The Cenotaph of the Counts of Neuchâtel is located on the north wall of the choir. Begun in 1372, and the only artwork of its kind to survive north of the Alps, the monument comprises fifteen near-life-size painted statues of various knights and ladies from Neuchâtel's past, framed by 15th-century arches and gables. Beside the church is the Castle, begun in the 12th century and still in use as the offices of the cantonal government. The nearby turreted Prison Tower, which is the remains of a medieval bastion, has panoramic views over the town, along with models of Neuchâtel in different eras.

Museums Neuchâtel has several museums, including the Laténium, an archeology museum focusing on the prehistorical times in the region of Neuchâtel and Hauterive, particularly the La Tène culture, with the eponym site being a few km away; the Musée d'ethnographie de Neuchâtel (MEN), an ethnography museum; and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, which houses the Automates Jaquet-Droz (Jaquet-Droz Mechanical Figurines).

Culture During the summer of 2002, Neuchâtel was one of five sites which held Expo.02, the sixth Swiss national exhibition, which was subject to financial controversy. The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival is held every year to celebrate fantastic cinema from around the world. The festival of the Fête des Vendanges, representing the wine harvest, is held traditionally in late September.

Sport Neuchâtel Xamax is the most important football club based in Neuchâtel. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal (1906) and FC Xamax (1916). The club plays in Swiss Super League, the highest Swiss football league. The club plays its home matches at the Stade de la Maladière.

HC Uni Neuchâtel plays in the MySports League, the third tier of the Swiss hockey league system. Their home games are held in the 7,000-seat Littoral.

Union Neuchâtel Basket is the city's top basketball team, which plays in the Championnat LNA, Switzerland's only professional basketball league.

Europe/Zurich/Canton_of_Neuchatel 
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Image: Adobe Stock Bogdan Lazar #162326259

Neuchâtel has a population of over 45,000 people. Neuchâtel also forms the centre of the wider Neuchâtel canton which has a population of over 169,782 people. Neuchâtel is ranked #573 for startups with a score of 0.298.

To set up a UBI Lab for Neuchâtel see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Neuchâtel has links with:

🇨🇭 Aarau, Switzerland 🇫🇷 Besançon, France 🇩🇪 Neuburg an der Donau, Germany 🇨🇭 Neuchâtel, Switzerland 🇫🇷 Neufchâteau, France 🇺🇸 New Castle, USA 🇺🇸 New Castle, USA 🇺🇸 New Castle, USA 🇿🇦 Newcastle, South Africa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle upon Tyne, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle-under-Lyme, England 🇮🇹 Sansepolcro, Italy 🇯🇵 Shinshiro, Japan
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | StartupBlink

Antipodal to Neuchâtel is: -173.067,-47

Locations Near: Neuchâtel 6.93333,47

🇧🇫 Boudry 6.837,46.95 d: 9.2  

🇨🇭 Fribourg 7.15,46.8 d: 27.7  

🇨🇭 Biel/Bienne 7.25,47.133 d: 28.2  

🇨🇭 Yverdon-les-Bains 6.642,46.785 d: 32.6  

🇨🇭 Bern 7.444,46.948 d: 39.2  

🇫🇷 Montbéliard 6.8,47.51 d: 57.6  

🇨🇭 Bourg-en-Lavaux 6.717,46.5 d: 58  

🇨🇭 Vevey 6.843,46.462 d: 60.2  

🇨🇭 Delémont 7.35,47.367 d: 51.5  

🇨🇭 Lausanne 6.633,46.522 d: 57.9  

Antipodal to: Neuchâtel -173.067,-47

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 17132.6  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 16370.1  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16325.1  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 16096.5  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 12379.7  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 12302.5  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 12290.1  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 12284.9  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 12284.3  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 12268.4  

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