Neuchâtel
Origin of the name Neuchâtel
The name first appears on 24 April 1011 in the Latin form "Novum castellum", meaning "new castle". Later forms carry the same meaning: "Nuvenburch" (1033) in German, "Novum Castrum" (1143), then "Nuefchastel" (1251) and "Neufchastel" (1338) in French. The present spelling "Neuchâtel" gradually became established around the middle of the 18th century, while German kept "Neuenburg". The name therefore simply refers to the fortification built on the rocky promontory overlooking the lake.
Founding of Neuchâtel
The town grew out of a fortification. At the end of the 10th century a ditch was dug to cut off, on its western side, a rocky promontory protected to the north and east by the Seyon; this is the "new castle" that King Rudolph III of Burgundy called a royal residence in 1011, in the charter by which he gave it to his wife. Around this castle, the garrison and the outbuildings of the royal estate gradually turned into a modest small town. In the 12th century the lords, later counts, of Neuchâtel (of the house of Fenis) made it their seat; at the end of the 12th century Ulrich II and his wife Bertha began building the collegiate church. The town thus has no single founder: it grew from a royal, then seigneurial, castle and from the gradual recognition of its community of burghers, mentioned from 1185 and granted in April 1214 a charter of liberties by the co-lords Ulrich III and Berthold, following the custom of Besançon.
History of Neuchâtel
around 13'000 BC. Camp of Magdalenian hunters at Monruz, on the present commune's territory, with hearths, worked flints and bones; Azilian hunters returned there around 11'000 BC.
3571 BC. Neolithic lakeshore settlement (late phase of the Cortaillod culture), dated by dendrochronology.
2nd-3rd century. Gallo-Roman baths at the mouth of the Serrière; a Gallo-Roman grave is known at Les Favarges and a coin hoard at Fontaine-André.
7th century. Merovingian cemetery of Les Battieux, in Serrières, with thirty-eight burials.
late 10th century. A ditch cuts off the rocky promontory overlooking the lake: the site's first fortification.
24 April 1011. First mention: King Rudolph III of Burgundy gives his wife the "Novum castellum", described as a most royal residence.
1143. Founding, north of the town, of the Premonstratensian abbey of Fontaine-André.
late 12th century. Construction of the collegiate church begins, on the initiative of Ulrich II and his wife Bertha.
1185. The burghers of Neuchâtel are mentioned as such.
April 1214. The co-lords Ulrich III and Berthold of Neuchâtel grant the burghers a charter of liberties modelled on the custom of Besançon.
1231. Berthold of Neuchâtel founds a first hospital east of the town.
1269. A fire causes major damage in the town.
1276. Consecration of the collegiate church.
1353. The town has about 1'000 to 1'200 inhabitants.
1372. Completion of the cenotaph of the counts of Neuchâtel in the collegiate church, a funerary monument to Count Louis and his family.
1406. The town concludes an independent co-citizenship treaty with Bern.
1450. A great fire devastates the town and damages the castle, which is then rebuilt.
1457. The last count of the direct line dies without a male heir; the county passes to other houses (Hochberg, then Orléans-Longueville).
1476. The booty from the battle of Grandson allows four guilds to be created.
1512-1529. The county of Neuchâtel is occupied by the Swiss cantons.
4 November 1530. Following the preaching of Guillaume Farel, a vote brings Neuchâtel over to the Reformation; the town becomes the first French-speaking Protestant capital.
8 October 1579. An exceptional flood of the Seyon sweeps away the town hall and destroys almost all the communal archives.
1696. Construction of the Temple du Bas.
1707. The Estates of Neuchâtel choose the King of Prussia as prince; the principality remains linked to Prussia until 1848 (formal renunciation in 1857).
1714. Another fire in the town.
18th century. Neuchâtel merchants (including the Pourtalès, Pury, Deluze, Chaillet, DuPasquier, Bovet, Coulon and Meuron families) sell the printed calicoes (indiennes) made in the region worldwide; the Perregaux and Rougemont families found major banks in Paris; the publisher Fauche and the Société typographique distribute the Encyclopédie across Europe.
1750. The town has 3'666 inhabitants.
1786. The merchant David de Pury leaves his fortune to the town, funding in particular a new hospital and the town hall, completed in 1790.
1806-1814. The principality is governed in the name of Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier.
12 September 1814. Neuchâtel is admitted to the Swiss Confederation as the 21st canton, while remaining a principality linked to the King of Prussia.
1838. A first academy is founded with the prince's support; the Republic closes it in 1848.
1843. The Seyon is diverted, its mouth moved about 600 metres to the west, allowing new districts to be built in the town centre.
1 March 1848. The Republic is proclaimed at the castle; the town becomes capital of the district of Neuchâtel (until 2017).
1857-1860. Opening of the railway lines (Jura-Industriel, Franco-Suisse, Ouest-Suisse), linking the town to France, Lausanne and Zurich.
1858. Founding of the cantonal observatory, which from 1860 provides Switzerland with the exact time.
1866. A second academy is opened.
1893. Construction of a tram network begins.
1909. The academy becomes a university.
1925. The Fête des vendanges (grape harvest festival) takes its present form.
1930. La Coudre merges with Neuchâtel.
1960s. Land is reclaimed along the lakeshore, creating in particular the Jeunes-Rives area.
1973. The town centre becomes a pedestrian zone.
1984. The Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) is established in Neuchâtel.
1994. A5 motorway tunnels carry east-west traffic beneath the town.
1998. The Federal Statistical Office settles in Neuchâtel.
2000. Opening of the Centre Dürrenmatt, part of the Swiss National Library.
2002. Neuchâtel is one of the sites (arteplage) of the Swiss national exhibition Expo.02.
2014. Completion of the last section of the A5 motorway between Neuchâtel and Auvernier (Serrières tunnel).
2021. Neuchâtel merges with Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux and Valangin.
Population of Neuchâtel
| 1353 | 1'000 to 1'200 (estimate) |
| 1530 | 1'600 (estimate) |
| 1750 | 3'666 |
| 1800 | 4'000 (estimate) |
| 1850 | 7'901 |
| 1870 | 12'934 |
| 1888 | 16'565 |
| 1900 | 21'195 |
| 1910 | 24'171 |
| 1930 | 22'668 |
| 1950 | 27'998 |
| 1970 | 38'784 |
| 1990 | 33'579 |
| 2000 | 32'914 |
| 2025 | 45'455 |
Historic sites in Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel Castle. Built on the promontory of the "new castle" of 1011, turned into a seigneurial residence in the 12th century, enlarged in the mid-14th century by Count Louis, then between 1438 and 1450 by Jean de Fribourg (chapel, Estates wing), damaged by the fire of 1450 and completed between 1488 and 1498 by Philippe de Hochberg (gallery, great portal). Restored from 1905 to 1934, it has been protected as a historic monument since 1905 and today houses the canton's government, parliament and administration. The Republic was proclaimed there on 1 March 1848.
Collegiate church. Begun in the last quarter of the 12th century on the initiative of Ulrich II and Bertha and consecrated in 1276, it is the town's main medieval building. It houses the cenotaph of the counts of Neuchâtel, a funerary monument completed in 1372.
Tour des Prisons and Tour de Diesse. Two 13th-century towers beneath which stood the gates that closed off the original borough.
Town hall. Completed in 1790 thanks to the bequest of the merchant David de Pury, it reflects the town's prosperity in the 18th century.
Temple du Bas. Protestant church built in 1696, in the heart of the lower town.
Maison des Halles. Built in 1572 in the heart of the lower town.
Patrician houses and town mansions. The Marval (1609), Chambrier (1660) and Montmollin (1685) houses, as well as the Pourtalès and DuPeyrou mansions in the Faubourg de l'Hôpital, recall the wealth of the merchant and banking families.
Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption. Neo-Gothic Catholic church built between 1897 and 1906.
Croix-du-Marché and Rue des Moulins. The Croix-du-Marché crossroads, then the Rue des Moulins, mark the town's expansion beyond the original borough before 1250.
Cantonal observatory. Founded in 1858, it provided Switzerland with the exact time from 1860, in close connection with the canton's watchmaking industry.
Remains in Neuchâtel
Magdalenian camp at Monruz. Around 13'000 BC, Magdalenian hunters set up a camp at Monruz, where hearths surrounded by worked flints and bones have been found; Azilian hunters returned around 11'000 BC. It is one of the oldest traces of human presence on the commune's territory.
Gallo-Roman baths at Serrières. Baths dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries were uncovered at the mouth of the Serrière, along with other Roman-period traces on the territory (a grave at Les Favarges, a coin hoard at Fontaine-André).
Merovingian cemetery of Les Battieux. In Serrières, thirty-eight 7th-century burials, some with belt buckle plates, bear witness to an early medieval community.
Pierre-à-Bot erratic boulder. Granite block of about 1'352 m³ and 3'000 tonnes, torn from the Mont Blanc massif and carried here by the Rhône glacier during the last glaciation. Louis Agassiz used it to defend his glacial theory; in 1838 it was listed as a "precious monument of natural history". Its Franco-Provençal name means "toads' stone".
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Neuchâtel (commune) »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Neuchâtel (canton) »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Fontaine-André »
- Ville de Neuchâtel, « Repères historiques »
- Wikipédia FR, « Château de Neuchâtel »
- Wikipédia FR, « Pierrabot »
- Portail statistique du canton de Neuchâtel, « La population en 2025 »
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 4 février 2026 homologuant le recensement cantonal de la population au 31 décembre 2025
Localities of the municipality with a page
Other villages near Neuchâtel
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