Author: Maarten Koning

La Collégiale of Neuchâtel

La Collégiale of Neuchâtel is a medieval monument. The construction of the church began around 1190. A new construction phase included the building of the monastery, the extension of the nave and the west portal and the St Michael’s Chapel. The inauguration of the church took place in 1276. The southern tower was built around 1300, the second tower in the 19th century.

Until the beginning of the 13th century, the architecture followed the Romanesque tradition of the Upper Rhine. The Gothic style of the Burgundy and French-speaking Switzerland arrived afterwards.

The cathedral of Lausanne has inspired the builders as well. The church shows a similiar ensemble of sculpture and statues and anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures.

The Collégiale and the castle still dominate the skyline of the city.

(Source and further information: www.neuchatelville.ch).

The reformer Guillaume Farel (1489-1565) in front of the church 

Russians in Switzerland

The St. Barbara Church in Vevey (canton of Vaud) is a Russian Orthodox parish beloning to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Switzerland after 1816.

The first Russian Orthodox parish in Switzerland was established in Bern on 24 December 1816. Tsar Alexander I (1777-1825) had commissioned the building and its consecration.

The Tsar maintained good relations with the young Confederation of 22 cantons,  and was also one of its most important advocates at the Congress of Vienna in 1814/1815. One of his most valued advisers was the Swiss Frédéric-César de La Harpe (1754-1838). The parish moved to Geneva in November 1854.

Many Russian aristocrats, artists, students and revolutionaries resided in Switzerland and around Lake Geneva in particular. Many Russian Orthodox churches were built.

The development of tourism and health resorts also attracted a rich clientele. Count Pyotr (Peter) Shuvalov (1827-1889) requested and received permission to build a church in Vevey in memory of his daughter Barbara. Jean-Samuel Késer-Doret  (1813-1902) was the architect. The church was consecrated on 1 November, 1878.

(Source and more information about the Orthodox Church in Switzerland: https://orthodoxie.ch).

Le Locle, its Town Hall and the Watch Industry

Le Locle was mentioned for the first time in a document in 1151 as the property of the seigneurs of Valangin and, afterwards, the Counts of Neuchâtel.

The heydays came in the nineteenth century with the development of the watch industry. The Town Hall symbolizes this small city’s prosperity, cosmopolitanism and grandeur.

The world is the market for the (Horlogerie) industries and services. The Time and Town planning area (L’Espace Temps et Urbanisme) in the building is dedicated to the history of the watch industry.

Musée d’horlogerie du Locle, Château de Monts

The Town Hall, built after the First World War, is a harmonious construction of different architectural styles: neo-Renaissance, Art Nouveau and local.

The architecture, fresco and sculptures make it a work of total art, including the goddess guarding the source of living water in front of the building.

The sculpture was crafted in 1930 to remind the authorities of good governance. (Source and further information: www.lelocle.ch).

Le Locle and its Watch industry