Neuchâtel
Encyclopedia
Neuchâtel is the capital of the Swiss canton
of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel
.
The city has approximately 32,600 inhabitants (80,000 in the agglomeration), by and large French-speaking, although the city is sometimes referred to historically by the German
name , which has the same meaning, since it originally belonged to the Holy Roman Empire
and later Prussia
ruled the area until 1848.
Neuchâtel is a pilot of the Council of Europe
and the European Commission
Intercultural cities
programme.
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 is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.4% is used for growing crops and 8.0% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The city is located on the northwestern shore of the Lake of Neuchâtel (lac de Neuchâtel in French and Neuenburgersee in German), a few kilometers 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 the border with France
, set down in a gorge and forming along its path an impressive waterfall, the Saut du Doubs, and lake, the Lac des Brenets.
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 (16.4 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-Magnon
s 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 house
s 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. At Les Favarger a Gallo-Roman
and at André Fontaine a small coin depot were discovered. In 1908, an excavation at the mouth of Serrière discovered Gallo-Roman baths from the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD.
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.
of Burgundy
presented a Novum castellum or new castle (Old French neu, now neuf and Old French châtel, now château, in antiquated or Newenburg am See) on the lake shore to his wife Irmengarde. 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 center 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.
, 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 seventeenth 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.
and was forced to give up Neuchâtel in order to keep Hanover
. Napoleon's fieldmarshal, 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 (the better to exert influence over all of them). On September 12, 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 March 1, 1848, a republic within the Swiss Confederation.
Most of the population 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 6 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 47.7% male and 52.3% female. The population was made up of 10,371 Swiss men (31.5% of the population) and 5,344 (16.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 12,366 Swiss women (37.5%) and 4,892 (14.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 8,558 or about 26.0% were born in Neuchâtel and lived there in 2000. There were 5,134 or 15.6% who were born in the same canton, while 7,744 or 23.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 10,349 or 31.4% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.6%.
, there were 14,143 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 14,137 married individuals, 2,186 widows or widowers and 2,448 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 15,937 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 7,348 households that consist of only one person and 547 households with five or more people. , a total of 15,447 apartments (89.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,429 apartments (8.3%) were seasonally occupied and 311 apartments (1.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.5 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Neuchâtel was 921.35 Swiss franc
s (CHF) per month (US$740, £410, €590 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 451.40 CHF (US$360, £200, €290), a two room apartment was about 675.66 CHF (US$540, £300, €430), a three room apartment was about 825.15 CHF (US$660, £370, €530) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1647.88 CHF (US$1320, £740, €1050). The average apartment price in Neuchâtel was 82.6% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.53%.
Le Locle and its geographical twin town La Chaux-de-Fonds
, up in the Jura Mountains
, have now been recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, for their horological and cultural past.
Neuchâtel is home to research centres and well-known organizations such as Swiss Centre of electronics and micro techniques (CSEM), Micro technology Institute of the university IMT
, Engineer’s School of Arc Jurassien EIAJ, Neode (scientific and technological park),
, Neuchâtel had an unemployment rate of 7.5%. , 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 females made up 45.4% of the workforce.
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 the sale or 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.
, 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.
. The university has five faculties (schools) 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 8 libraries. These libraries include; 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 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.
, there were 3,859 students in Neuchâtel who came from another municipality, while 346 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
. The entire old city of Neuchâtel is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
The center of the Old Town are 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 a graceful example of early Gothic. The east end of the church, has three Norman apse
s. 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 unique 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 fifteenth-century arches and gables. Beside the church is the Castle, begun in the twelfth 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 interesting models of Neuchâtel in different eras.
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
; the MEN, an ethnography museum; The flagship Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Esplanade Léopold-Robert, and its star attractions, the astonishing Automates Jaquet-Droz
(Jaquet-Droz Mechanical Figurines) are also notable.
The ground floor is devoted to the historical collections, with rooms on the history of Neuchâtel. Upstairs are the rooms devoted to fine art, which have been organized radically differently from most other museums. Instead of displaying works by period, or artist, or genre, the collection is grouped by theme, with the various rooms labelled Nature, Civilization, The Sacred, and so on. In each room you can climb podia – each one hung all round with paintings – in order to get a better view of the works hung high on the four walls.
In a room at the rear of the ground floor the Automates Jaquet-Droz are displayed. The Automates are three mechanical figurines built to the most exacting technical standards by a Neuchâtelois watchmaker in the 1770s and still in perfect working order today. The three – the Draughtsman, the Writer and the Musician – are displayed static behind glass. The Draughtsman is a child sitting at a mahogany desk and holding a piece of paper with his left hand; his right hand, holding a pencil, performs extraordinarily complex motions to produce intricate little pictures of a dog, the god Eros in a chariot pulled by a butterfly, or a noble profile of Louis XV. The Writer, a chubby-cheeked little boy, also sits at a mahogany desk, with a goose quill in his right hand and a tiny pot of ink nearby for dipping. He writes in a florid and chunky style, and staggeringly enough, can even be programmed to produce any text of up to forty characters. While he writes, his eyes follow the words across the page. But perhaps the most charming of the three is the Musician, a gracious young girl with slender and dextrous fingers who plays a small organ – a real instrument, not a disguised musical-box. As her fingers strike the keys to produce the notes and her eyes, head and body move subtly from side to side in time, her chest rises and falls delicately in an imitation of rhythmic breathing. Her melodies were composed in the early 1770s by Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721–90) was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds into a venerable and wealthy local family. After studying theology at university, he returned to Neuchâtel – by then already a centre for clock and watchmaking – and worked to combine his interest in mathematics with the skills of applied mechanics used by the artisans of the watch industry. By the age of 26, Jaquet-Droz had gained a reputation for technical brilliance, and in 1758 he and his father-in-law, a craftsman named Abram Sandoz, travelled to Madrid to show off the skill of Neuchâtelois clockmakers at the Spanish court (Jaquet-Droz’s so-called “Shepherd’s Clock” is still on display in one of the King of Spain’s palace museums).
Jaquet-Droz was by now wealthy enough to retreat from business life and concentrate on problems of applied mathematics, exemplified in his construction of incredibly complex mechanical figurines – the earliest of computers – designed to do particular tasks. He trained his son, Henri-Louis, and a colleague, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, to work with him; together, they produced the Writer, the Draughtsman and the Musician, and presented all three for the first time to the public in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1774. Writers of the day reported that people flocked from all over the country to see such extraordinary works of whimsy and technical skill. The same year, the three craftsmen showed their figurines in drawing rooms and royal palaces all across Europe, from London to Russia and Paris to Madrid, receiving high acclaim wherever they went. Perhaps aware of impending revolutionary violence in France and Switzerland, Jaquet-Droz sold the figurines to a collector in Spain in 1778. After the conflicts, in 1812, they reappeared in Paris and began touring again. Some twenty years later, they became the centrepiece of Martin and Bourquin’s “Museum of Illusions”, which toured Central Europe until the turn of the century. In 1906, helped by a grant from the Swiss federal government, Neuchâtel bought the figurines back, and they have been on display in the town’s museum ever since, in virtually the same condition as when they were first made, almost 230 years ago.
, the sixth Swiss national exhibition, which was subject to financial controversy.
The festival of the Fête des Vendanges, representing the wine harvest, is held traditionally in early Fall.\
the most popular party was the SP
which received 30.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(19.09%), the FDP
(12.17%) and the Green Party
(11.44%). In the federal election, a total of 9,566 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 49.6%.
. 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 Islam
ic. 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.
is a football
club based in Neuchâtel. They play in the Swiss Super League
, the highest Swiss football league. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal (1906) and FC Xamax (1916). The club plays in red shirts, black shorts and red socks and are currently in the Axpo Super League, the highest Swiss football league. They play their home matches at the Stade de la Maladière.
, Robert Miles
, and Marcel Junod
were all born in Neuchâtel. Friedrich Dürrenmatt
lived in Neuchâtel the last 30 years of his life. Canadian illustrator John Howe, well known for his illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien
's work and his participation in Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings trilogy as chief conceptual designer, also lives in the Swiss city. It was also the site of a secret first meeting between French novelist Honoré de Balzac
and the married woman who later became his wife, Eveline Hanska.
Roger Schutz, founder of the Taize Community in France, was born on 12 May 1915 at the village of Provence near Neuchâtel. He was stabbed to death on 16 August 2005 by a mentally deranged woman during a prayer meeting in Taize's Church of Reconciliation.
The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Silvio Fanti
was born in Neuchâtel in 1919. He founded and developed Micropsychoanalysis
, a new school of psychoanalysis
. Another important psychiatrist, Gottlieb Burckhardt
, practiced in Neuchatel.
Francois Bigot
, the last Intendant of New France
.
It is also the current residence of French tennis sensations Richard Gasquet
, Gilles Simon
and Florent Serra
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Or, an Eagle displayed Sable beaked, langued and membered Gules, escutcheon Or, on a pale Gules three Chevrons Argent.
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
.
The city has approximately 32,600 inhabitants (80,000 in the agglomeration), by and large French-speaking, although the city is sometimes referred to historically by the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
name , which has the same meaning, since it originally belonged to the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and later Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
ruled the area until 1848.
Neuchâtel is a pilot of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
and the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
Intercultural cities
Intercultural cities
The Intercultural City programme is a joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. It aims at stimulating new ideas and practice in relation to the integration of migrants and minorities....
programme.
Geography
Neuchâtel has an area, , of 18.1 square kilometre. Of this area, 1.84 square kilometre or 10.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 9.74 square kilometre or 53.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.42 square kilometre or 35.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.1% is 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 is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.4% is used for growing crops and 8.0% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The city is located on the northwestern shore of the Lake of Neuchâtel (lac de Neuchâtel in French and Neuenburgersee in German), a few kilometers east of Peseux and west of Saint-Blaise
Saint-Blaise, Neuchâtel
Saint-Blaise is a municipality in the district of Neuchâtel in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-History:Saint-Blaise is first mentioned in 1011 as Arins. In 1209 it was mentioned as Sanctus Blasus. The municipality was formerly known by its German name St Blasien, however, that name is no...
. Above Neuchâtel, roads and train tracks rise steeply into the folds and ridges of the Jura
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
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
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
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
La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres from the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of...
and Le Locle
Le Locle
Le Locle is a municipality in the district of Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.It is situated in the Jura mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds....
, which both rely heavily on their horological past to draw in visitors. The River Doubs marks the border with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, set down in a gorge and forming along its path an impressive waterfall, the Saut du Doubs, and lake, the Lac des Brenets.
Prehistory
The oldest traces of humans in the municipal area are the remains of a MagdalenianMagdalenian
The Magdalenian , refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe, dating from around 17,000 BP to 9,000 BP...
hunting camp, which was dated to 13,000 BC. It was discovered in 1990 during construction of the A5 motorway
A5 motorway (Switzerland)
The A5 is a Swiss Autobahn connecting Luterbach - Solothurn - - Neuchâtel - ....
at Monruz (La Coudre). The site was about 5 m (16.4 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
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
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-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
s to hunt horse and reindeer in the area. Azilian
Azilian
The Azilian is a name given by archaeologists to an industry of the Epipaleolithic in northern Spain and southern France.It probably dates to the period of the Allerød Oscillation around 10,000 years ago and followed the Magdalenian culture...
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 house
Stilt house
Stilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding, but also serve to keep out vermin...
s 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
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
railway, which connects the railway station and university, the settlement was rediscovered. It was later determined to be a Cortaillod culture
Cortaillod culture
The Cortaillod culture is one of several archaeologically defined cultures belonging to the Neolithic period of Switzerland. The Cortaillod Culture in the west of the region is contemporary with the Pfyn Culture...
(middle Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
) village. According to dendrochronological studies, some of the piles were from 3571 BC.
A Hallstatt
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
grave (early Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
) was found in the forest of Les Cadolles. At Les Favarger a Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture
The term Gallo-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Gaul under the rule of the Roman Empire. This was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman mores and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context...
and at André Fontaine a small coin depot were discovered. In 1908, an excavation at the mouth of Serrière discovered Gallo-Roman baths from the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD.
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.
Middle Ages
In 1011, Rudolph IIIRudolph III of Burgundy
Rudolf III of Burgundy was the last King of an independent Burgundy. He was the son of Conrad, King of Burgundy, and Matilda of France...
of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
presented a Novum castellum or new castle (Old French neu, now neuf and Old French châtel, now château, in antiquated or Newenburg am See) on the lake shore to his wife Irmengarde. 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 center 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 ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, 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 seventeenth 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
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
, who claimed his entitlement in a rather complicated fashion through the Houses of Orange and Nassau
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
. 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 turn of the nineteenth century, the King of Prussia was defeated by Napoleon INapoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
and was forced to give up Neuchâtel in order to keep Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
. Napoleon's fieldmarshal, Berthier
Louis Alexandre Berthier
Louis Alexandre Berthier, 1st Prince de Wagram, 1st Duc de Valangin, 1st Sovereign Prince de Neuchâtel , was a Marshal of France, Vice-Constable of France beginning in 1808, and Chief of Staff under Napoleon.-Early life:Alexandre was born at Versailles to Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Baptiste 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
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
reasserted his rights by proposing that Neuchâtel be linked with the other Swiss cantons (the better to exert influence over all of them). On September 12, 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 March 1, 1848, a republic within the Swiss Confederation.
Demographics
Neuchâtel has a population of . , 32.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 3.9%. It has changed at a rate of 2.4% due to migration and at a rate of 1% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(25,881 or 78.6%) as their first language, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
is the second most common (1,845 or 5.6%) and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
is the third (1,421 or 4.3%). There are 6 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 47.7% male and 52.3% female. The population was made up of 10,371 Swiss men (31.5% of the population) and 5,344 (16.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 12,366 Swiss women (37.5%) and 4,892 (14.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 8,558 or about 26.0% were born in Neuchâtel and lived there in 2000. There were 5,134 or 15.6% who were born in the same canton, while 7,744 or 23.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 10,349 or 31.4% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.6%.
, there were 14,143 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 14,137 married individuals, 2,186 widows or widowers and 2,448 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 15,937 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 7,348 households that consist of only one person and 547 households with five or more people. , a total of 15,447 apartments (89.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,429 apartments (8.3%) were seasonally occupied and 311 apartments (1.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.5 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Neuchâtel was 921.35 Swiss franc
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
s (CHF) per month (US$740, £410, €590 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 451.40 CHF (US$360, £200, €290), a two room apartment was about 675.66 CHF (US$540, £300, €430), a three room apartment was about 825.15 CHF (US$660, £370, €530) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1647.88 CHF (US$1320, £740, €1050). The average apartment price in Neuchâtel was 82.6% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.53%.
Historic Population
The historical population is given in the following chart:| Historic Population Data | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total Population | French Speaking | German Speaking | Protestant | Catholic | Other | Jewish | Islamic | No religion given | Swiss | Non-Swiss |
| 1850 | 7,901 | 7,098 | 789 | 7,068 | 833 | ||||||
| 1870 | 12,934 | 11,012 | 2,327 | 11,306 | 2,284 | ||||||
| 1888 | 16,565 | 11,511 | 4,651 | 13,973 | 2,387 | 143 | 94 | 14,447 | 2,118 | ||
| 1900 | 21,195 | 15,566 | 4,596 | 17,548 | 3,500 | 232 | 80 | 18,108 | 3,087 | ||
| 1910 | 24,171 | 17,543 | 5,161 | 19,750 | 3,944 | 476 | 111 | 20,625 | 3,546 | ||
| 1930 | 22,668 | 17,027 | 4,612 | 18,615 | 3,638 | 306 | 63 | 20,640 | 2,028 | ||
| 1950 | 27,998 | 21,897 | 4,784 | 21,439 | 5,891 | 308 | 58 | 26,307 | 1,691 | ||
| 1970 | 38,784 | 26,200 | 5,117 | 21,882 | 15,262 | 2,352 | 59 | 76 | 791 | 30,012 | 8,772 |
| 1990 | 33,579 | 24,579 | 2,467 | 13,198 | 13,305 | 4,462 | 55 | 481 | 5,634 | 24,250 | 9,329 |
| 2000 | 32,914 | 25,881 | 1,845 | 10,296 | 10,809 | 3,767 | 58 | 1,723 | 7,549 | 22,801 | 10,113 |
Economy
Renowned for its watch industry, Neuchâtel has been able to position itself as the heart of micro-technology and high-tech industry. During the last 20 years, the region of Neuchâtel has attracted many leading companies in the high-tech sectors such as medical technology, micro technology, biotechnology, machines & equipments, IT and clean technologies.Le Locle and its geographical twin town La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres from the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of...
, up in the Jura Mountains
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
, have now been recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, for their horological and cultural past.
Neuchâtel is home to research centres and well-known organizations such as Swiss Centre of electronics and micro techniques (CSEM), Micro technology Institute of the university IMT
IMT
IMT may refer to the following:Science and technology:* Internet media type, a two-part identifier for file formats on the Internet* Intima-media thickness, a measurement of the thickness of artery walls...
, Engineer’s School of Arc Jurassien EIAJ, Neode (scientific and technological park),
, Neuchâtel had an unemployment rate of 7.5%. , 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 females made up 45.4% of the workforce.
the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
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 the sale or 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.
, 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 NeuchâtelUniversity of Neuchâtel
The University of Neuchâtel is a French-speaking university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The University has five faculties and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law, economics and theology. The Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences is the largest...
. The university has five faculties (schools) 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 8 libraries. These libraries include; 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 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
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). 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
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
, 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.
, there were 3,859 students in Neuchâtel who came from another municipality, while 346 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Transportation
- Neuchâtel has local public transport provided by Les Transports Publics du Littoral Neuchâtelois (TN), which operates an extensive TrolleybusTrolleybusA trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
network, a FunicularFunicularA funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
, and an InterurbanInterurbanAn interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
light railLight railLight rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
line to BoudryBoudryBoudry is the capital of the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-History:Boudry is first mentioned in 1278 as Baudri.There are numerous prehistoric settlements around 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. - The city is linked to the TGVTGVThe TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
(High Speed Train). Direct trains link Neuchâtel to ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in four hours. - Neuchâtel's airport is about 6 km (3.7 mi) away from the center 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 Zurich which are respectively 58 km (36 mi), 122 km (75.8 mi), 131 km (81.4 mi) and 153 km (95.1 mi) away by car. Geneva and Zurich airports both have direct trains to Neuchâtel, connecting the cities respectively in 1h 17min and 1h 49min.
- 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 MurtenLake MurtenLake Morat is a lake located in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud in the west of Switzerland. It is named after the small town of Murten/Morat on its southern shore...
and 7 towns on Lake BienneLake BielLake Biel or Lake Bienne is a lake in the west of Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies approximately at , at the language boundary between German & French speaking areas.The lake is 15 km long and up...
from 6:30am to 9pm. Some boats offer free wireless internet connections.
Heritage sites of national significance
There are 32 sites in Neuchâtel that are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significanceSwiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. The entire old city of Neuchâtel is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
- Archeological sites: Paleolithic settlement at Monruz
- Churches: Abbey of Fontaine-André, Collegiate ChurchCollegiate churchIn Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
of Neuchâtel et cénotaphe, Notre-Dame Church
- Houses: Maison des Halles, Maison at Rue du Pommier 7, Maison at Rue du Pommier 8 or Rue du Château 19, Maison at Rue du Pommier 9, Villa James de Pury with an annex decorated with frescos by Hans Erni
- Libraries and Museums: Bibliothèque des Pasteurs de Neuchâtel, Galeries de l‘Histoire, Musée d‘art et d‘histoire de Neuchâtel, Musée d‘ethnographie, Muséum d‘histoire naturelle
- Schools: Collège Latin
- Public Buildings and Structures: Neuchâtel CastleNeuchâtel CastleNeuchâtel Castle is a castle in the municipality of Neuchâtel of the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
and archives, Fountain of Justice, Fountain at place de l‘Hôtel de Ville, Fountain at rue des Moulins, Fountain at rue du Château, Banneret Fountain, Griffon Fountain, Lion Fountain, Neubourg Fountain, City Fortification, Grande Rochette, City Hall, Hôtel Du Peyrou, Cantonal Observatory at Rue de l‘Observatoire 52, Parc de la Petite Rochette, Poste at Place Numa-Droz 2, Prison tower and former prison at Rue Jehanne-de-Hochberg 3
Architecture
Neuchâtel’s Old Town is attractive, with about 140 street fountains, a handful of which date from the sixteenth century. The Place des Halles is overlooked by fine Louis XIV architecture – shuttered façades and the turreted orioles of the sixteenth-century Maison des Halles. A two-minute walk 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 center of the Old Town are 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 a graceful example of early Gothic. The east end of the church, has three Norman apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
s. The main entrance, to the west, is crowned by a giant rose window of stained glass. Within the vaulted interior, the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
is lit by a lantern tower. The unique Cenotaph of the Counts of Neuchâtel is located on the north wall of the choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. 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 fifteenth-century arches and gables. Beside the church is the Castle, begun in the twelfth 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 interesting models of Neuchâtel in different eras.
Museums
Laténium
The Laténium is an archeology museum located in Hauterive, a suburb of Neuchâtel. Its name refers to the La Tène culture.The Laténium is composed of a 2 500 m² parc, and a museum building which also harbours the archaeological section of the University of Neuchâtel...
, an archeology museum focusing on the prehistorical times in the region of Neuchâtel and Hauterive, particularly the La Tène culture
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
; the MEN, an ethnography museum; The flagship Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Esplanade Léopold-Robert, and its star attractions, the astonishing Automates Jaquet-Droz
Jaquet-Droz automata
The Jaquet-Droz automata, among all the numerous automata built by the Jaquet-Droz family, refer to three doll automata built between 1768 and 1774 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis and Jean-Frédéric Leschot: the musician, the draughtsman and the writer...
(Jaquet-Droz Mechanical Figurines) are also notable.
The ground floor is devoted to the historical collections, with rooms on the history of Neuchâtel. Upstairs are the rooms devoted to fine art, which have been organized radically differently from most other museums. Instead of displaying works by period, or artist, or genre, the collection is grouped by theme, with the various rooms labelled Nature, Civilization, The Sacred, and so on. In each room you can climb podia – each one hung all round with paintings – in order to get a better view of the works hung high on the four walls.
In a room at the rear of the ground floor the Automates Jaquet-Droz are displayed. The Automates are three mechanical figurines built to the most exacting technical standards by a Neuchâtelois watchmaker in the 1770s and still in perfect working order today. The three – the Draughtsman, the Writer and the Musician – are displayed static behind glass. The Draughtsman is a child sitting at a mahogany desk and holding a piece of paper with his left hand; his right hand, holding a pencil, performs extraordinarily complex motions to produce intricate little pictures of a dog, the god Eros in a chariot pulled by a butterfly, or a noble profile of Louis XV. The Writer, a chubby-cheeked little boy, also sits at a mahogany desk, with a goose quill in his right hand and a tiny pot of ink nearby for dipping. He writes in a florid and chunky style, and staggeringly enough, can even be programmed to produce any text of up to forty characters. While he writes, his eyes follow the words across the page. But perhaps the most charming of the three is the Musician, a gracious young girl with slender and dextrous fingers who plays a small organ – a real instrument, not a disguised musical-box. As her fingers strike the keys to produce the notes and her eyes, head and body move subtly from side to side in time, her chest rises and falls delicately in an imitation of rhythmic breathing. Her melodies were composed in the early 1770s by Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721–90) was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds into a venerable and wealthy local family. After studying theology at university, he returned to Neuchâtel – by then already a centre for clock and watchmaking – and worked to combine his interest in mathematics with the skills of applied mechanics used by the artisans of the watch industry. By the age of 26, Jaquet-Droz had gained a reputation for technical brilliance, and in 1758 he and his father-in-law, a craftsman named Abram Sandoz, travelled to Madrid to show off the skill of Neuchâtelois clockmakers at the Spanish court (Jaquet-Droz’s so-called “Shepherd’s Clock” is still on display in one of the King of Spain’s palace museums).
Jaquet-Droz was by now wealthy enough to retreat from business life and concentrate on problems of applied mathematics, exemplified in his construction of incredibly complex mechanical figurines – the earliest of computers – designed to do particular tasks. He trained his son, Henri-Louis, and a colleague, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, to work with him; together, they produced the Writer, the Draughtsman and the Musician, and presented all three for the first time to the public in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1774. Writers of the day reported that people flocked from all over the country to see such extraordinary works of whimsy and technical skill. The same year, the three craftsmen showed their figurines in drawing rooms and royal palaces all across Europe, from London to Russia and Paris to Madrid, receiving high acclaim wherever they went. Perhaps aware of impending revolutionary violence in France and Switzerland, Jaquet-Droz sold the figurines to a collector in Spain in 1778. After the conflicts, in 1812, they reappeared in Paris and began touring again. Some twenty years later, they became the centrepiece of Martin and Bourquin’s “Museum of Illusions”, which toured Central Europe until the turn of the century. In 1906, helped by a grant from the Swiss federal government, Neuchâtel bought the figurines back, and they have been on display in the town’s museum ever since, in virtually the same condition as when they were first made, almost 230 years ago.
International relations
- Neuchâtel is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural cities programme.
Culture
During the summer of 2002, Neuchâtel was one of five sites which held Expo.02Expo.02
Expo.02 was the 6th Swiss national exposition, which was held from 15 May to 20 October 2002. The exposition took place around the lakes of Neuchâtel, Bienne/Biel and Morat/Murten. It was divided into five sites, which were called Arteplages, due to the proximity of the water...
, the sixth Swiss national exhibition, which was subject to financial controversy.
The festival of the Fête des Vendanges, representing the wine harvest, is held traditionally in early Fall.\
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 30.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(19.09%), the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
(12.17%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(11.44%). In the federal election, a total of 9,566 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 49.6%.
Religion
From the , 10,809 or 32.8% were Roman Catholic, while 9,443 or 28.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 374 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(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
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
, 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
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 1,723 (or about 5.23% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There were 99 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, 100 individuals who were Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and 59 individuals who belonged to another church. 7,549 (or about 22.94% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 1,717 individuals (or about 5.22% of the population) did not answer the question.
Sport
Neuchâtel XamaxNeuchâtel Xamax
Neuchâtel Xamax Football Club is a Swiss football club, based in Neuchâtel. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal and FC Xamax . The club plays in red shirts, black shorts and red socks and are currently in the Axpo Super League, the highest Swiss football league. They play...
is a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club based in Neuchâtel. They play in the Swiss Super League
Swiss Super League
The Swiss Super League or Axpo Super League is the top tier of the Swiss Football League. The Swiss Super League is currently ranked 16th according to UEFA's ranking of league coefficients, which is based upon Swiss team performances in European competitions.-Names:-Participating clubs:The teams...
, the highest Swiss football league. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal (1906) and FC Xamax (1916). The club plays in red shirts, black shorts and red socks and are currently in the Axpo Super League, the highest Swiss football league. They play their home matches at the Stade de la Maladière.
Notable people
Jean PiagetJean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
, Robert Miles
Robert Miles
Robert Miles is an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ in electronica and alternative music.-Biography:...
, and Marcel Junod
Marcel Junod
Marcel Junod was a Swiss doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross...
were all born in Neuchâtel. Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
lived in Neuchâtel the last 30 years of his life. Canadian illustrator John Howe, well known for his illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's work and his participation in Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings trilogy as chief conceptual designer, also lives in the Swiss city. It was also the site of a secret first meeting between French novelist Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
and the married woman who later became his wife, Eveline Hanska.
Roger Schutz, founder of the Taize Community in France, was born on 12 May 1915 at the village of Provence near Neuchâtel. He was stabbed to death on 16 August 2005 by a mentally deranged woman during a prayer meeting in Taize's Church of Reconciliation.
The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Silvio Fanti
Silvio Fanti
Silvio Fanti was a Swiss psychiatrist who founded micropsychoanalysis.. He wrote several books about micropsychoanalysis and among them stand out J’ai peur, Docteur..., Le fou est normal, Le mariage, Après avoir..., La micropsychanalyse, Dictionnaire pratique de la psychanalyse et de la...
was born in Neuchâtel in 1919. He founded and developed Micropsychoanalysis
Micropsychoanalysis
Micropsychoanalysis is a psychotherapy method. A basic form of micropsychoanalysis was first conceived in the 1950s by Swiss psychiatrist Silvio Fanti and developed systematically by himself and his collaborators, Pierre Codoni and Daniel Lysek, from the 1970s. Micropsychoanalysis has the free...
, a new school of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
. Another important psychiatrist, Gottlieb Burckhardt
Gottlieb Burckhardt
Johann Gottlieb Burckhardt was a Swiss psychiatrist and the medical director of small mental hospital in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. He is commonly regarded as having performed the first modern psychosurgical operation...
, practiced in Neuchatel.
Francois Bigot
François Bigot
François Bigot was a French government official. He served as the Financial Commissary on Île Royale and as Intendant of New France. He was the last official ever to hold the latter position, losing it on the occasion of the British Conquest of Québec in 1759...
, the last Intendant of New France
Intendant of New France
New France was governed by three rulers: the governor, the bishop and the intendant, all appointed by the King, and sent from France. The intendant was responsible for finance, economic development, and the administration of justice . He also presided over the Sovereign Council of New France...
.
It is also the current residence of French tennis sensations Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
, Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon is a French professional tennis player and former world no. 6. He is a nine-time winner on the ATP World Tour...
and Florent Serra
Florent Serra
Florent Lucien Serra is a French male tennis player. A right-hander, he has won two ATP titles during his career and is coached by Pierre Cherret.-Early life and junior career:...
.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Or, an Eagle displayed Sable beaked, langued and membered Gules, escutcheon Or, on a pale Gules three Chevrons Argent.
Weather
See also
- Intercultural citiesIntercultural citiesThe Intercultural City programme is a joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. It aims at stimulating new ideas and practice in relation to the integration of migrants and minorities....
- L'ExpressL'Express (Neuchâtel)L'Express is a regional daily newspaper published in Neuchâtel, Switzerland . As L'Impartial in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the French language newspaper is published by SNP Société Neuchâteloise de Presse SA....
is published in Neuchâtel. - Neuchâtel Junior CollegeNeuchâtel Junior CollegeNeuchâtel Junior College is a private Canadian international school located in the French-speaking town of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.- Location :...