Château de Neuchâtel, Photo/Foto: TES.

Neuchâtel Castle

In a deed of 1011, Neuchâtel (Neuenburg, new castle, castellum novum) is described as a royal residence (of Rudolph III (970-1032), the last King of the Kingdom of Burgundy, 888-1032). The first castle was built in the 11th century on an easily defensible rock.

When more and more houses were built around it in the 12th century, the western gate was raised with granite. The tower, built in the 12th and 13th centuries and decorated with merlons in the 14th century, reached a height of thirty metres. A rampant with two towers doubled the dry moat at a later stage.  The castle expanded in the following centuries.

The nearby La Collégiale complex of church and monastry was built between 1185 and 1190.

(Source: J. Courvoisier et al, Neuchâtel. Histoire d’un paysage urbain, Neuchâtel, 1999).

La Collégiale de Neuchâtel