Colombier, Neuchâtel

Colombier

Former municipality of Switzerland

Colombier Castle

Coat of arms

Colombier

Location of Colombier

Coordinates: 46°58′N 6°52′E / 46.967°N 6.867°ECoordinates: 46°58′N 6°52′E / 46.967°N 6.867°E

Country

Area

• Total

4.52 km² (1.75 sq mi)

Elevation

457 m (1,499 ft)

Population (December 2011)

• Total

5,510

• Density

1,200/km² (3,200/sq mi)

Postal code

2013

SFOS number

6406

Surrounded by

Auvernier, Bôle, Boudry, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Neuchâtel, Rochefort

Website

www.colombier.ne.ch
SFSO statistics

Colombier is a former municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. The municipalities of Auvernier, Bôle and Colombier merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Milvignes.

Colombier is first mentioned in 1228 as Columbier.

Four lakeside settlements from the neolithic and the Bronze Age have been discovered in Colombier. One of the largest Roman era villas in Switzerland was excavated from under the castle in 1840–42 by Frédéric Dubois de Montperreux. It was built in multiple stages between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD into a palatial mansion with a peristyle, at least two baths with mosaics and frescoes and terraced gardens. A Merovingian graveyard was found near Colombier.

In the 11th or 12th century a fortified tower was built over the ruins of the Roman villa. It expanded in the 13th Century and by the 16th century had reached its present appearance.

During the Middle Ages, the Seigneurie of Colombier included the villages of Colombier and Areuse, a part of Bôle and a third of the Vogtei of Bevaix. They also had rights in Fretereules and Val-de-Ruz. The noble Colombier family were vassals of the count of Neuchâtel. During the Middle Ages, they also acquired, by marriage, the fiefs of Savagnier, Cormondrèche and the fief of the Pressoir of Colombeir in Thielle. In 1488 the Colombier lands were acquired by marriage by the de Chauvirey family of Franche-Comte. In 1513, they were acquired by Johann Jakob von Watteville of Bern. Under von Watteville, the territory expanded further into Bevaix. In 1564, the land was purchased by the Counts of Neuchâtel, for 60,000 crowns. Under Johann Jakob von Watteville, the Protestant Reformation was successfully introduced in town. When portions of the Armée de l'Est were interred in Colombier in 1871, the Catholic Mass began to be read once again in the church.

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Wikipedia