The Monuments of Serrières

24 February 2023

The name Serrières (today a district of the city of Neuchâtel) derives from the Latin word serra, saw, which in ancient times denoted a place with many sawmills. The town lies on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel. This region was already inhabited in prehistoric times and the centuries before the Roman occupation (15-13 BC).

The Roman villa of Serrières was discovered in 1908 during the construction of the houses of the cité Suchard, the world’s first chocolate multinational. The complex was located on the banks of the lake (the level of the lake was lowered by metres in the 19th century).

The lake’s richness in fish, combined with the Region of the Three Lakes network (comprising the lakes of Neuchâtel, Biel/Bienne, and Morat/Murten), and the River Aare, explains the presence of a Roman settlement and a large villa.

Excavations in 1908 revealed that the Chocolat Suchard factory was visible. 

The other Roman buildings are on the hillside. The layout of the baths was primarily determined by the height of the heating systems (praefurnium/a), which produced hot water that circulated through the floors (hypocauste). This water gradually cooled and exited the building into the lake and the small river Serrière.

This village was still inhabited in the Merovingian period (6th-7th century). There was a small church and a cemetery. More than 200 graves have been discovered.

The Carolingian church of St. Jean, dating from the eighth or ninth century, also indicates permanent habitation, centuries before the foundation of Neuchâtel and Peseux, unlike medieval Cormondrèche and Corcelles, and the Gallo-Roman sites of Auvernier and Colombier.

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