Everything is on the move in Neuchâtel, except … the town’s altitude, which, from its origins until today, has remained between 429.4m at the lakeside to 1174.4m at the Chaumont signal point. As testament to the town’s political stability, the Town Hall has remained consistently at 435.6m above sea level.

Neuchâtel (in German: Neuenburg) political commune of Neuchâtel canton, Neuchatel district. It incorporates Neuchatel, the industrial and residential area of Serrières (Sarreres, 1270), the sprawling hamlet of Chamont (Chumont) and since 1929, the former commune of La Coudre (La Coudra, 1143).

Neuchâtel appears in Latin texts under the name of Novum castellum in 1011, then as Novum castrum as far back as the XII century. We also find from the XIV century the Greek scholar form Neocomum and its adjectival derivative neocomensis, which is still used in the seal of the University.

In the common man’s language, the name has developed similarly in German (Nienburg, 1032; Nuvenbruch, 1033; Nüwenburg, 1200; Neuenburg since 1550) and in French: Nuefchastel, 1251; Neufchastel, 1338; Neufchâtel, by the end of XVII century; Neuchâtel becomes gradually quite customary from the first half of the XVIII century.

Neuchatel’s southern border is demarcated by the edge of the lake, in the west by the communes of Auvernier, Peseux, Valangin, Fenin-Villars-Saules, Savagnier, Lignières, Le Landeron, Cornaux, Cressier, St-Blaise and Hauterive. Its total surface area measures 1745 hectares, of which 36% is build up land. The remainder consists in the main of forest and pasture. Since 1512, the town has owned the large forestry area of Les Joux (0.751 hectares) northwest of Les Ponts–de-Martel.

Infrastructure, communication etc.
Numerous infrastructures have been implemented in the lakeside area: together with Neuchâtel, the lakeside communes account for over 86’000 inhabitants, half of the canton’s population. It is an economic entity open to the world: the airfields at Colombier and at La Chaux-de-Fonds are a mere 10 and 20 minutes away by car respectively. By TGV – the French high-speed train- Paris is only four hours from Neuchatel!

Neuchâtel –Bern, the Swiss capital is 30 minutes by car or 40 minutes by train. Neuchâtel-Geneva is 1h30 by car or 1h10 by train. Neuchâtel-Zurich, 1h50 by car,or 1h30 by train. And with the two international airports of Contrin (Geneva) and Kloten (Zurich), Neuchatel really is in the centre of Europe.

Neuchatel has a European soul. In 1998, The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe awarded the town with a diploma to encourage its promotion of European union ideals.

In 1975, Neuchatel twinned with Besançon (Franche-Comté, France) and with Aarau (in the German speaking part of Switzerland) and in 1997 with Sansepolocro (Tuscany, Italy).

A short history
Neuchâtel is also capital of the canton that bears its name. It has a passionate history, fundamentally due to its numerous European ramifications:

Neuchatel,land of exchange
Situated in the heart of Western Europe and on the frontier of Germanic and Latin languages, on the border of The Rhone and Rhine basins which divide the northern and southern lands so clearly, Neuchâtel is an outstanding land of exchange as ten centuries of events have proven.

From its creation around 1000.A.D. up until its full integration into the Swiss Confederation in 1848, the seigniory of Neuchâtel, which became an earldom, a principality and then canton, has seen princes from lands far and wide pass though its castle walls. From Fribourg-im-Brisgau at the end of the XIV century when the last House of Neuchatel died out, to the Margraves of Baden, when the Lords of Hochberg – who would go on to experience brilliant fortune in service under Charles the Bold and Louis XI – inherited the small Neuchatel fiefdom.

The marriage of Joan of Hochberg to Louis of Orleans, a blood price, in 1502 swung Neuchâtel from a Germanic influence into two centuries of French influence during which time the fleur-de-lis emblazoned flag flew over the principality.

In 1707, as successors to the Orleans, the people of Neuchâtel called upon the dynasties of the House of Hohenzollern - who had recently become Kings of Prussia - to install their governors in Neuchatel. It led to a century and a half of what would be recognised as one of the most splendid periods of Neuchâtel’s history, due to the heartening development of the watch-making industry, the printing of cotton fabrics and lace-making.

There was however an interlude in 1806 when Napoleon I bestowed the principality to Alexandre Berthier, Marshal of France who retained it until 1813, although never finding the time to visit it.

Taking advantage of the revolutionary wind that was blowing through Europe, the Neuchâtel democrats proclaimed it a Republic on 1st March 1806. Even though from that date onwards it has been recognised as a full-fledged Swiss canton, Neuchâtel has not given up the task to which geography and history has assigned it: to be a land of exchange between man and culture.

A modern role first and foremost
As the penultimate canton to join the Swiss Confederation, during its 155 year of Swiss membership, Neuchatel has remained a progressive and sometimes turbulent canton. Indeed, was it not Neuchâtel that took the bold step of granting voting rights to its foreigners who had lived in its canton for at minimum of 10 years? When we consider the debates today on this subject at the beginning of the third millennium, we can only admire the modern outlook Neuchatel possessed in the mid XIX century.

Below are the terms in which the town of Neuchatel is succinctly presented in the opening entry of the new Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. (N.B. This publication is only available in German, French and Italian)

(Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse(Editions Gilles Attinger, 2068 Hauterive).