Finding Bronze Age Switzerland Along the Sparkling Shores of Lake Neuchâtel

The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel

Classical Antiquity remains on full display all across Europe from Athens to Rome and even right here in Switzerland at places like Avenches, the capital of Roman Helvetia but the predecessors to Classical Antiquity, the Bronze and Iron Ages are far less evident.

Ever since visiting the temporary ‘And Then Came Bronze’ exhibit at the Bernisches Historisches Museum (one of my favorite museums in all of Switzerland), I have been absolutely fascinated by these earlier periods. Recent archaeological evidence has more or less blown away our preconceptions about these so-called ‘uncivilized’ cultures and has shed new light on the immense interconnectedness of Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia well before the Roman Empire. Incredible craftsmanship rivaling today’s best metal work, objects thousands of miles from their origin, and detailed astrological tools that mapped the night sky as far back as 2000 BC all speak to a far more advanced civilization than we ever thought possible.

In an effort to expand my understanding of Switzerland’s prehistory, I went on a quest a few weeks back to find some of the rare in-place evidence of Bronze Age culture still surviving here in Switzerland. That pursuit took me to the sparkling shores of Lake Neuchâtel where I uncovered exactly what I was looking for and so so much more. I look forward to sharing just some of the stunning natural beauty and incredible history I found this week in our latest installment in the One Year: 26 Cantons series.

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Off to the Laténium

The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel lies just over the border from the Canton of Bern in the west of Switzerland, the perfect distance for a full-day trip from the Berner Oberland. I packed my day bag and headed to Bern where I switched to one of the direct train services to the Canton’s namesake city of Neuchâtel. All up, it took me about an hour and a half to get there. Direct trains from both Zurich and Geneva can get you there in about the same amount of time (+/- 15 minutes).

The city of Neuchâtel is steeply nestled between the Jura mountains to the west and the northwestern shores of Lake Neuchâtel to the east.

In about 3 minutes, the convenient funicular inside the Neuchâtel train station deposits you near the lake shore at Neuchâtel-Université. From there I made my way to the Port de Neuchâtel where I jumped on one of the lake’s several boats for a short trip to Hauterive, the next town up the lake and home to the Laténium, Switzerland’s largest dedicated archaeology museum.

While I could have easily (and more quickly) taken a bus straight to Hauterive, the boat drops you right at the doorstep of the Laténium and, on a clear day, offers incredible and unimpeded views across the water to the French and Swiss Alps. After what felt like several straight weeks of clouds and rain in the Berner Oberland, my visit to Neuchâtel was like a godsend. The weather was pristine. Crystal-clear skies offered spectacular views of the Alps from Mt. Blanc, Europe’s highest peak, all the way back to Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau in the Berner Oberland.

Photos do not do justice to the spectacular view of the Alps from the boat deck

Switzerland's Lake-side Pile Dwellings

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many Bronze Age communities concentrated around rivers and lakes taking advantage of water for drinking, fishing, and easy transport. These settlements consisted primarily of pile dwellings, buildings built on wooden stilts rammed into the shallow lakebed.

A particularly high concentration of these pile-dwelling sites has been found in the so-called three lakes region around Lakes Neuchâtel, Biel, and Murten.

The Laténium, which hosts both indoor and outdoor exhibits, derives its name from the famous nearby La Tène Iron Age archaeological site discovered in the late 19th century around the same time that river corrections were made to more efficiently drain Lakes Biel and Neuchâtel.

View of the Laténium near the waters of Lake Neuchâtel

Starting around the 16th century, the level of Lake Neuchâtel had naturally and steadily risen several meters. The complex ‘First Correction of the Jura Waters’ project saw the level of Lake Neuchâtel lowered just below its Bronze age stand revealing a number of Neolithic, Bronze and Iron age archeological sites including one right here at the Laténium.

Outside, the museum preserves and interprets a portion of this uncovered site. A collection of reproduction pile dwellings and other structures have also been constructed nearby giving an excellent sense for life on the lake shore during the Bronze age. Inside, the museum overflows with artifacts documenting all eras from the Medieval to Paleolithic. As you work your way back in time through the exhibits you start to get a better feel for the evolution of culture, technology, and workmanship. It is all quite fascinating.

For being the largest archaeological museum in Switzerland, the Laténium is still, by no means, huge and I made my way through all the exhibits in about 2 hours. I must admit that I may have sped myself up a bit by not partaking in as many of the interpretive materials as I usually do. Where many of Switzerland’s museums are presented in English, German, and French, the Laténium only provides the latter two. My German is improving but it still needs some work and my French more or less consists of a single phrase ‘Parlez-vous anglais?’ or ‘Do you speak English?’ That seems to have about a 50/50 shot of working here in the Romandie. Regardless, with a little persistence and the help of Google Translate, you can easily get the idea.

Inside and Outside the Laténium Museum

Back to Neuchâtel

After lunch on the terrace outside the museum and a quick dip of the feet in the lake, I abandoned my initial plans to take the bus back into Neuchâtel and opted for a pleasant hour-long stroll along the waterfront back to the port.

About half the journey consisted of lakefront parklands and stunning mountain views, the other half interlaced paths that while not horrible were really nothing to write home about. Coming back into Neuchâtel, you pass by the local stadium and marina before hitting the large and popular beach called the Plage des Jeunes Rives which is in the last throws of a major park redevelopment project.

The Jeunes Rives was reclaimed from the lake in the 1960’s and 70’s following the second Correction of the Jura Waters (an attempt to further regulate fluctuating lake levels). The site has mostly served recreational purposes despite initial intentions to expand the growing city center in the booming post-war years. In 2002 the Jeunes Rives hosted the Swiss National Exhibition galvanizing calls for further development of the site into a proper park land.

Near the far end of the Plage des Jeunes Rives, I circled back around the port and past some of the city's newer 19th century constructions before making my way into the old town. Owing to the natural beauty of the Lake and its mild climate, Neuchâtel prospered during the Bel Epoch period. The Beaux Arts Musée d'Art et d'Histoire or Art History Museum and World Union of Postal Companies building, which now hosts the city's post and tourist offices, both attest well to this period.

Musée d'Art et d'Historie near the port of Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel’s old town is made up of a wonderful maze of picture-perfect medieval buildings which radiate away on a gentle slope from the steeper portions of the town up on the hills above. Throughout the 13th to 18th centuries, the Seyon River deposited a sizeable delta into Lake Neuchâtel naturally creating new land for expansion of the town (and regularly flooding the new constructions). After lowering of the lake level in the early 19th century, the variable flow of the Seyon was diverted away from the town center to prevent further flooding.

Today, the old town’s main street, Rue du Seyon, follows the course of the former river channel through town and the further you walk up it from the water, the older the buildings get.

Inside the old town of Neuchâtel

Exploring the Neuchâtel

The oldest portions of modern Neuchâtel pre-date the 13th century delta formation and can be found lining the steep hills above the old town. Most of this construction consists of a medieval bastion or castle complex initiated by the last Burgundian King, Randolph the Third around the beginning of the 11th century. At that time, the castle walls towered over the lake below and asserted the King’s dominance over this region far on the edge of his kingdom.

Today you can follow the winding Rue du Château straight up from the town into the castle. Given its prominent position on the hill, the views from the Castle walls remain impressive despite the growth of the town down below. Internal walkways, staircases, and bridges offer near unfettered and free access to many portions of the castle.

Looking out over Neuchâtel from the castle walls

The city, canton, and lake of Neuchâtel, which literally translates to ‘New Castle’, derive their names from this new bastion suggesting that there was already some sort of castle on the site in the 10th century, but very little is known about those previous constructions and what is known seems to be mostly anecdotal.

Because of continuous administrative use over the last 1000 years, the site hosts a wonderful mix of preserved and ruined structures of different architectural styles linked with a wide and fascinating range of rulers. Only a few years after construction, Randolph the Third died and Neuchâtel was incorporated into the larger Holy Roman Empire which saw control of Neuchâtel pass to a German lineage. This new rule oversaw the construction of a Romanesque residential wing on the site in the 12th century, portions of which are still visible today and represent a rare preservation of this architectural style in Switzerland.

Upon their ascension from lords to counts at the start of the 13th century, the Counts of Neuchâtel oversaw the construction of the well-appointed Collegiate Church of Notre Dame inside the castle walls as well as the beginnings of the city of Neuchâtel on the delta below.

At the end of the 14th century, the county and the castle passed to the family of Fribourg through lineage. The family used the castle as their residence for the next hundred years and significantly improved the grounds. A devastating fire in 1450 took most of the town and portions of the castle but, the family wealth ensured that both were quickly rebuilt. Around 1488, the southern wing of the castle took more or less its present shape and style.

Fast forward to the start of the 16th century and the line of the Counts of Neuchâtel dies out. The castle and its lands passed through marriage to the Orléans-Longueville family who were close to the court of France. Neuchâtel was no longer governed directly, and governors were appointed to oversee the territory. From 1512 to 1529, the castle was occupied by the Swiss Confederation in response to tensions with the King of France and the cantonal coats of arms affixed to the outside of the southern wing attest to those times.

Colegiate Church of Notre Dame within the Neuchâtel

The reformation swept through Neuchâtel in 1530 stripping much of the Collegiate Church and granting the citizenry a new level of control over the territory whereby they were allowed to choose their future rulers. When the family of Orléans-Longueville died out at the start of the 17th Century, the citizens were able to choose from a dizzying list of claimants to the territory.

The citizenry eventually (and somewhat oddly) chose the King of Prussia as the rightful heir despite a rather circuitous claim to the role. In reality, Neuchâtel was looking for a strong ruler who would protect the territory but who lived far enough away so as to not exert much control over the populous. This decision kicked off a two-hundred-year oddity in western Switzerland whereby Neuchâtel became a Prussian principality far beyond the reach of the kingdom which primarily consisted of modern-day northern Germany and portions of Poland, Russia, Denmark, and the Czech Republic.

After a brief interlude of French control during the Napoleonic wars at the start of the 19th century, Prussia reasserted its control but urged the principality to join the Swiss Confederation so as to leverage control over the Confederates. This arrangement persisted until 1848 when the citizens of Neuchâtel claimed themselves independent of Prussia. An ensuing diplomatic crisis between Prussia and the Swiss was resolved in 1857 finally granting Neuchâtel complete autonomy as a republic within the Confederacy.

Even today, the Cantonal administration of Neuchâtel still occupies the southern wing of the castle.

Swiss Cantonal Coat of Arms next to the Romanesque portions of the Neuchâtel Castle

A hand full of the sights in the Neuchâtel Castle

Through the City

After thoroughly exploring the castle with all its hidden pathways and towers, I made my way back down the hill past the Prisoners tower, the long-time city jail, to the town center.

In a serendipitous turn of events, my timing re-entering the old town couldn’t have been better. As I came down Rue du Château, a miles long parade of marching bands and adorably dressed school children from all across Neuchâtel processed straight towards me before turning the corner onto Rue du Seyon on their march towards a fair at Plage des Jeunes Rives celebrating the end of the school year.

At the edge of the old town, I hoped into another of Neuchâtel’s several funiculars and took a ride up the hill to Neuchâtel, Plan with exceptional views over the town and lake. From there I followed the road past some fantastic old farmhouses, now mixed in with more modern architecture, to Jardin botanique de Neuchâtel or the Neuchâtel Botanical Gardens.

A suprise parade in the old town of Neuchâtel

The modest gardens were pretty but, if I am going to be honest, a bit out of the way on their own without access to a car. With the sun starting to really beat down and the day getting late, I was less inclined to linger or head further up the hill to the nearby Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel, the former home of famous Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and instead opted for a steep staircase back down to the train station.

Despite a bit of an anti-climactic ending (I should have folded after the parade), my trip to Neuchâtel was exceptional and I feel like I have really only scratched the surface of what this fantastic town and canton have to offer.

We hope you enjoyed hearing about our visit this week. Finding fantastic places like Neuchâtel is the whole reason we started the One Year: 26 Canton project! If you liked this week’s installment, head over to the One Year: 26 Canton project page to find many more just like it, and stay tuned for additional articles on our Swiss travels every week!

Until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to leave a comment on one of our social media platforms!

Inside the Neuchâtel Botanical Gardens