Fleurier

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Fleurier
Coat of arms of Fleurier
State : SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Canton : Canton of NeuchâtelCanton of Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (NE)
District : No district divisionw
Municipality : Val-de-Traversi2
Postal code : 2114
former BFS no. : 6506
UN / LOCODE : CH FLI
Coordinates : 534729  /  195 143 coordinates: 46 ° 54 '15 "  N , 6 ° 34' 55"  O ; CH1903:  534729  /  one hundred and ninety-five thousand one hundred forty-three
Height : 741  m above sea level M.
Area : 7.74  km²
Residents: 3518 (December 31, 2007)
Population density : 455 inhabitants per km²
View from the Chapeau de Napoléon to Fleurier

View from the Chapeau de Napoléon to Fleurier
map
Fleurier (Switzerland)
Fleurier
w w
Parish before the merger on January 1st, 2009

Until December 31, 2008, Fleurier was a municipality in the Val-de-Travers district of the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland .

Since January 1, 2009 Fleurier belongs together with Boveresse , Buttes , Couvet , Les Bayards , Môtiers , Noiraigue , Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to Val-de-Travers .

geography

Fleurier is 741  m above sea level. M. , 28 km west-southwest of the canton capital Neuchâtel (linear distance). The industrial community extends in the western Val de Travers at the exit of the Areuse from the Clus of Saint-Sulpice, in the southwestern Neuchâtel Jura .

The area of ​​the 7.7 km² former municipal area comprises a section in the western Val de Travers, which here has a flat valley floor around 1 km wide. The Vallon du Buttes flows from the southwest and is drained by the Buttes river. To the north, the municipal soil extended to the edge of the plateau at Haut de la Vy (up to 1060  m above sea level ), in the west to the anticline of the Montagne de Buttes (up to 1040  m above sea level ). In the south, the area includes a section of the densely forested northern slope of the Chasseron chain, on which at 1330  m above sea level. M. the highest point of Fleurier is reached. The Bied brook , which flows into the Areuse at Môtiers, has deepened an erosion valley into this slope over the course of millions of years , part of which lies in the Fleurier area. In 1997, 17% of the municipal area was in settlements, 53% in forests and woodland, 29% in agriculture and a little more than 1% was unproductive land.

Some farm settlements and individual farms on the lower northern slope of the Chasseron chain belong to Fleurier. Neighboring municipalities of Fleurier were Buttes , Saint-Sulpice , Boveresse and Môtiers in the canton of Neuchâtel and Romairon , Mauborget and Fontaines-sur-Grandson in the canton of Vaud .

Historical aerial photo from 500 m by Walter Mittelholzer from 1931

population

Population development
year Residents
1850 1770
1900 3746
1910 4184
1930 3726
1950 3413
1960 3814
1970 4124
1980 3573
1990 3578
2000 3761

With 3518 inhabitants (at the end of 2007), Fleurier was the largest municipality in the Val de Travers and was also one of the larger municipalities in the canton of Neuchâtel. 88.1% of the residents are French-speaking, 3.3% Italian-speaking and 2.8% Portuguese-speaking (as of 2000). The population of Fleurier increased sharply, especially in the second half of the 19th century. Various fluctuations were recorded over the course of the 20th century before the population rose to a peak of 4,300 in the late 1960s. After a significant decrease up to 1980, stagnation has occurred since then.

economy

Fleurier was a small farming village until the middle of the 18th century. The first important line of business outside of agriculture was lace manufacture, and watchmaking gained a foothold in Fleurier from 1730 . Rapid industrialization began at the end of the 18th century , which in the course of the 19th century led to a major economic boom. Even at that time, the industry in Fleurier was concentrated on several branches; In addition to the clock and textile factories, there was also a brick factory, a printing shop, a laboratory for the manufacture of herbal medicines, and until the absinthe production was banned in 1908, there were numerous absinthe distilleries, a gas works, a tobacco factory, a match factory and a bicycle factory. This diversity meant that crises in one branch could be largely absorbed by the other branches of industry. As a result, Fleurier was - unlike the neighboring communities - hardly affected by emigration after 1900.

Today the industry is focused on mechanics , precision tool manufacture and microtechnology . The once important watch industry has almost disappeared in the meantime, and has been experiencing an upswing again since the mid-1990s thanks to the Parmigiani factory located here and the Chopard brand's movement production . Both companies now employ over 350 people. There are numerous other jobs in the service sector, while agriculture only employs around 1% of the workforce.

education

Fleurier is an important educational center with primary school , secondary school and high school . There used to be a teachers' seminar, a trade school and a watchmaker and mechanic school.

traffic

Fleurier is a road junction in the Val de Travers. It is on the main road from Neuchâtel via the border crossing Les Verrières to Pontarlier in France and also has a connection with Sainte-Croix and Le Locle . On July 25, 1860, the railway line from Auvernier to Les Verrières was opened with a station in Boveresse, which initially also served Fleurier. The inauguration of the Travers - Saint-Sulpice valley line with a train station in Fleurier took place on September 24, 1883. On September 11, 1886, the Fleurier - Buttes line was finally opened. Today the regional trains run from Travers to Buttes, the line to Saint-Sulpice has been closed. The bus routes to Couvet , Les Verrières and La Brévine provide for the fine distribution of public transport .

history

The first written mention of the place dates back to 1284 under the name Flurye . Fleurier belonged to the Saint-Pierre priory in the neighboring parish of Môtiers until the 14th century, after which it was subject to the Kastlanei Val-de-Travers until 1848. During this time, the county of Neuchâtel had sovereignty over the area. From 1648 Neuchâtel was a principality and from 1707 it was linked to the Kingdom of Prussia through personal union. In 1806 the area was ceded to Napoleon I and came to the Swiss Confederation in the course of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 , whereby the kings of Prussia until the Neuchâtel trade in 1857 also remained princes of Neuchâtel. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Fleurier was also known as a tourist destination.

Attractions

The current building of the reformed parish church dates from 1827, the steeple from 1900. The catholic church built in 1858 was restored in 1972. There is a beautiful view of Fleurier from the Chapeau de Napoléon , a pulpit on the limestone cliffs south of the Saint-Sulpice gorge, around 220 m above the valley floor. In the time of busy tourism, a cable car to this viewing platform was even under discussion.

  • Fleurier

  • Temple

  • Rue du Temple

  • Grave: Ch.Ed.Guillaume

  • View of the Chapeau de Napoléon

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the church

People who worked on site

literature

  • Jean Courvoisier: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Neuchâtel, Volume III: Les districts du Valde-Travers, du Val-de-Ruz, du Locle et de La Chaux-de-Fonds. (= Art Monuments of Switzerland. Volume 56). Edited by the Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 1968.

Web links

Commons : Fleurier  - collection of images, videos and audio files