Môtiers

Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Val-de-Travers · 827 inhabitants (31.12.2008, former municipality of Môtiers, last census before the merger)

Part of the municipality of Val-de-Travers

Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Môtiers

The place appears in 1228 under the name of the valley, « Valtravers », then in 1267 in the form « de Mostier ». The name recalls the old word « moutier », meaning a monastery, and probably refers to the priory of Saint-Pierre around which the village grew (to be cross-checked).

Founding of Môtiers

No founder of the village itself is known: Môtiers grew up around the priory of Saint-Pierre, which is said to have been founded between 909 and 1032 by the abbey of Cluny and one of the kings of Burgundy. Excavations in 1997, however, uncovered the foundations of a church that could date back to the 8th or even the 7th century, which would push the start of the historical settlement of the Val-de-Travers back by one or two centuries. The priory originally held spiritual and temporal authority over the whole region; it gradually lost the latter to the lords, then to the counts of Neuchâtel, who made the Val-de-Travers a castellany and built a castle south of the village between 1311 and 1344. Môtiers thus became the centre of jurisdiction and, in 1848, the capital of the Val-de-Travers district. A village on the Areuse and the Bied, with scattered settlements (Chaux, Pré Monsieur, Sagneule, Riau, Sur le Crêt, Vers chez Bordon, Pierrenod), Môtiers celebrates every year with the Fête des fontaines the entry of the principality of Neuchâtel into the Confederation. It is now part of the municipality of Val-de-Travers (merger of 1 January 2009).

History of Môtiers

7th-8th century. The foundations of a church, uncovered by the 1997 excavations, could date from this period, making them one of the oldest witnesses of the historical settlement of the Val-de-Travers.

909-1032. Presumed foundation of the priory of Saint-Pierre by the abbey of Cluny and one of the kings of Burgundy.

12th century. Construction, right next to the priory, of a parish church dedicated to Notre-Dame. The parish covers the whole Bas-Vallon, from La Clusette (Noiraigue) to Buttes and Saint-Sulpice, in the deanery of Neuchâtel of the diocese of Lausanne.

1228. First written mention, under the name of the valley, « Valtravers ». The form « de Mostier » appears in 1267.

1311-1344. The counts of Neuchâtel, who have annexed the Val-de-Travers and made it a castellany, build a castle south of the village. Môtiers becomes the centre of jurisdiction.

second half of the 14th century. Môtiers forms, with Couvet, Boveresse, Fleurier, Buttes and Saint-Sulpice, the corporation of the Six Communes, which manages common forests and a covered market built in Môtiers, west of the priory.

early 15th century. The parish, with chapels of ease in Travers, Saint-Sulpice and Buttes, has some 120 households, that is fewer than 1'000 inhabitants.

1451. The market hall, at first built of wood, is recorded. Destroyed by fire in 1526-1527, it is rebuilt and given stone façades in the late 16th or early 17th century.

1485. The first two annual fairs of the Val-de-Travers are established in Môtiers, open to the inhabitants of the castellany and of the mairie of Les Verrières.

1513-1526. The commune takes shape: together with Boveresse it receives in perpetual lease a mill, a sawmill and a threshing mill (1513), then common pastures (1522) and a communal oven (1526).

1537. Secularisation of the priory. Môtiers adopts the Reformation but gradually loses its role as mother church of the Bas-Vallon; only Boveresse remains in its parish.

1551. Opening of the first school in the Val-de-Travers, run by the pastors.

1664. Creation of a General Council of twenty-four members, joined by two governors and four justices.

1669. The church, until then without a bell tower because of the nearby priory tower, receives its own.

1723. A fire destroys part of the village.

1762-1765. Stay of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which gives the village international fame.

1829. Start of the production of sparkling wines by the traditional Champagne method, in the buildings of the former priory.

1831 and 1848. Inhabitants take part in the liberal movements. The grocer Louis Grandpierre presides over the first Grand Council and the lace merchant Charles-Louis Jeanrenaud-Besson joins the first Council of State of the Republic proclaimed on 1 March 1848.

1848. Môtiers becomes capital of the Val-de-Travers district, seat of the court and of the prefecture (abolished in 1935).

1883. Opening of the station of the Régional du Val-de-Travers railway.

2006. On 6 February the castle of Môtiers is bought by Pascal Raffy, owner of the Bovet watch company, who plans to set up his headquarters there.

2009. On 1 January Môtiers merges with Les Bayards, Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers to form the municipality of Val-de-Travers.

Population of Môtiers

404

1750

633

1800

947

1850

1'176

1860

1'043

1900

893

1950

711

1980

849

2000

827 (31 December, last census before the merger)

2008

Historic sites in Môtiers

Former priory of Saint-Pierre. Cradle of the village and former religious centre of the Val-de-Travers, secularised in 1537. Since 1829 its buildings have housed a sparkling wine business. It is listed in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.

Church (former church of Notre-Dame). Parish church probably built in the 12th century next to the priory, turned Protestant at the Reformation and given a bell tower in 1669. Boveresse is a co-owner. Cultural property of national significance.

Hôtel des Six-Communes. Former market hall of the corporation of the Six Communes, recorded in 1451, at first built of wood, rebuilt after the fire of 1526-1527 and later given stone façades. The arcaded ground floor housed the merchants' stalls, the upper floor administrative, judicial and commercial functions. 17th-century wall paintings; restored from 1995 to 2001.

Castle of Môtiers. Built by the counts of Neuchâtel between 1311 and 1344 on a promontory south of the village, it was the seat of the castellany of the Val-de-Travers. Bought in 2006 by the owner of the Bovet watch company, it is now private property.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau house and museum. Late 15th-century house where the philosopher lived from 1762 to 1765. The museum displays some 200 original documents; a waymarked walk with 60 bronze pebbles leads to the waterfall mentioned by Rousseau in a letter to the Maréchal de Luxembourg.

Maison Boy de la Tour (Château d'Ivernois). Manor house on the Grande Rue, listed in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.

Maison des Mascarons. Acquired in 1970 by the Association du Musée régional d'histoire et d'artisanat du Val-de-Travers, it houses the regional museum, including an exhibition on three centuries of watchmaking in the Val-de-Travers opened in 2016.

Remains in Môtiers

Early churches beneath the priory and the parish church. The 1997 excavations uncovered the foundations of a very old church, dated by estimates to the 6th-7th or 7th-8th century (to be cross-checked), enlarged in Carolingian times and replaced in the 11th-12th century by a church with an apse and side apses. The Gothic choir dates from 1514-1517; after secularisation the former church of Saint-Pierre was turned into a granary. The 1960 excavations revealed beneath the parish church the footings of a semicircular Romanesque choir.

The Vy aux Moines. Medieval path that linked the priory of Môtiers with the abbey of Montbenoît (Doubs) via Boveresse, Monlési and the valley of La Brévine.

Sources

Other villages near Môtiers

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