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Villages / Neuchâtel / Val-de-Travers / Val-de-Travers

Val-de-Travers

Merger 2009 Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Val-de-Travers · 10'705 inhabitants (31.12.2025)
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Val-de-Travers

The commune takes the name of the valley, Val-de-Travers, set by article 2 of the merger agreement. The names of the former communes become those of its villages. The valley appears around 1150 as « Vallis traversis ». In German it was called Traverstal, and locals simply call it « le Vallon ».[2][6]

Founding of Val-de-Travers

The idea of a single commune for the whole valley emerges in the mid-1990s. A first project with eleven communes fails in 2007, rejected by La Côte-aux-Fées and Les Verrières. The other nine, Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers, then sign a new agreement, which their voters approve in February 2008. The commune of Val-de-Travers has existed since 1 January 2009. The territory covers much of the Val-de-Travers, a 166 km² valley of the central Jura drained by the Areuse. The Bas-Vallon, formerly the Baronnie, lies at about 730 to 770 metres, the Haut-Vallon, once called les Montagnes, above 900 metres. Permanent settlement grew up around the priory of Saint-Pierre at Môtiers. In the second half of the 14th century the Six-Communes corporation was formed to manage common forests and a covered market hall.[1][2][6][7]

History of Val-de-Travers

entre 909 et 1032. Foundation of the priory of Saint-Pierre at Môtiers, attributed to the abbey of Cluny and a king of Burgundy. Foundations uncovered in 1997 may go back to the 7th or 8th century.[6][7]

998. Noiraigue is recorded in the Latin form « Nigra Aqua », « black water », after its river.[11]

1107. Pope Paschal II gives the priory of Môtiers to the abbey of La Chaise-Dieu.[6]

1202. Travers appears as « Transversum », then as « Travers » in 1229.[8]

1284. Fleurier enters the record as « Flurye ».[9]

entre 1311 et 1344. The counts of Neuchâtel set up the castellany of Vautravers, whose castle stands at Môtiers.[6][7]

1413. Conrad of Freiburg makes Travers a lordship, together with Noiraigue and Rosières. The Sandoz family return it to the prince in 1827.[6][8]

1537. The priory of Môtiers, attached in 1507 to the chapter of Neuchâtel collegiate church, is secularised.[6]

1695. The Neuchâtel-Pontarlier post road through the valley opens.[6]

1762. Jean-Jacques Rousseau settles in Môtiers, staying until 1765. The stay brings the village international fame.[7]

1848. The new republican regime makes the valley a single district. Môtiers becomes its capital, and the prefecture stays there until 1935.[6][7]

1860. The Franco-Suisse railway runs along the north side of the valley. The same year Couvet opens the district's first hospital.[6][10][11]

1867. Édouard Dubied founds his knitting-machine factory in Couvet. It collapses in 1987.[6][10]

1910. The absinthe ban hits the valley. Fleurier had eight distilleries between 1870 and 1910.[6][9]

1995. In October the communal councils of the valley's two main villages invite the other communes of the district to draw up a regionalisation concept. The idea of a single commune emerges.[1]

2007. After ten years of work, the eleven-commune merger project is rejected on 17 June by La Côte-aux-Fées and Les Verrières.[1][2]

2007. The councils of the nine remaining communes sign a merger agreement in Môtiers on 13 November. It provides for a decentralised administration in the existing buildings.[2]

2008. Popular vote of 24 February: the merger of the nine communes is approved.[1]

2009. The merger comes into force on 1 January.[2][3]

2017. In September Val-de-Travers, La Côte-aux-Fées, Les Verrières, objectif:ne and the canton of Neuchâtel sign the region's strategic positioning agreement.[1]

Population of Val-de-Travers

Sources and references: [5][6][15]

Population of Val-de-Travers
13402'000 to 3'000 (whole valley)
17507'511 (whole valley)
18009'531 (whole valley)
185011'758 (whole valley)
190017'177 (whole valley)
195013'893 (whole valley)
200012'174 (whole valley)
202510'705

Historic sites in Val-de-Travers

Priory of Saint-Pierre, Môtiers. In Môtiers. The nucleus of settlement in the valley, the former priory is a cultural property of national importance. Sparkling wine has been made here by the champagne method since 1829.[6][7][14]

Môtiers Castle. South of the village. The counts of Neuchâtel built it between 1311 and 1344 as the seat of the castellany of Vautravers.[6][7]

Hôtel des Six-Communes. In Môtiers, Rue Centrale 1. It bears the name of the Six-Communes corporation. It is a cultural property of national importance.[7][14]

La Presta asphalt mines. In Travers. Asphalt was found here in 1711 and mined on a large scale from 1873 until 1986. The galleries run for about a hundred kilometres, and a section of about 1 km is open to visitors.[8][12][14]

Boveresse absinthe drying house. In Boveresse. Built in 1893 by the Barrelet brothers to dry absinthe plants, it has been a historic monument and museum since 1998.[13][14]

Communal administration. The communal chancellery is in Fleurier, rue du Temple 8. The merger agreement provided for a decentralised administration.[2][4]

Sources

  1. objectif:ne, « L'intercommunalité profite au développement régional du Val-de-Travers » (8 novembre 2023)
  2. Comité de fusion, « Val-de-Travers, Convention de fusion » (Môtiers, 13 novembre 2007)
  3. Etat de Neuchâtel, rapport du Conseil d'Etat au Grand Conseil 20.044, « Fusion et création de communes » (2 novembre 2020)
  4. Commune de Val-de-Travers, « Chancellerie »
  5. Etat de Neuchâtel, Conseil d'Etat, « Arrêté portant homologation des résultats du recensement cantonal de la population du 31 décembre 2025 » (4 février 2026)
  6. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Val-de-Travers (vallée) » (Eric-André Klauser, version du 13.10.2023)
  7. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Môtiers (NE) » (Eric-André Klauser, version du 26.10.2016)
  8. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Travers » (Jean-Pierre Jelmini, version du 26.10.2016)
  9. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Fleurier » (Eric-André Klauser, version du 25.10.2016)
  10. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Couvet » (Eric-André Klauser, version du 02.02.2017)
  11. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Noiraigue » (Eric-André Klauser, version du 26.10.2016)
  12. ERIH, Route européenne du patrimoine industriel, « Asphalt Mines »
  13. Musées suisses, « Séchoir à absinthe de Boveresse »
  14. Office fédéral de la protection de la population, Inventaire PBC, liste du canton de Neuchâtel (état au 1.1.2026)
  15. Etat de Neuchâtel, Conseil d'Etat, « Arrêté portant homologation des résultats du recensement cantonal de la population du 31 décembre 2008 » (21 janvier 2009)

Localities of the municipality with a page

Other villages near Val-de-Travers

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