Cernier

Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Val-de-Ruz · 2'285 inhabitants (31.12.2012, former municipality of Cernier, last census before the merger)

Part of the municipality of Val-de-Ruz

Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Cernier

The name is first recorded in 1324 in the form « Cernies ». Its origin has not been established. One hypothesis links it to the Jura term « cernil », a plot enclosed by hedges or dry-stone walls (to be cross-checked); another points to a personal name « Cernius » or to the Latin « circinare », to encircle (to be cross-checked). Both point to the idea of a bounded agricultural area.

Founding of Cernier

Neither a founder nor a founding date is known for Cernier: the village grew gradually in the Middle Ages from the agricultural clearing of the Val-de-Ruz. The count of Valangin is said to have had the land cleared in the 14th century (to be cross-checked). Recorded in 1324 as « Cernies », the village belonged to the lordship of Valangin, then to the Mairie of the same name. Its territory extended over the plain (750-800 m) and the mountain, with the hamlet of Montagne de Cernier (1'190 m). An essentially agricultural village until around 1870, Cernier then developed with the trade in fabrics and furniture, the furniture factory and the regional institutions (prefecture, court, agricultural school) that made it the centre of the Val-de-Ruz.

History of Cernier

1324. First written mention of the village as « Cernies ». Cernier then belongs to the lordship of Valangin.

14th century. The count of Valangin is said to have had the communal land cleared so that its population could farm it (to be cross-checked).

around 1515. Reconstruction of the polygonal choir with star vaults of the Cernier temple, which replaces the former rectangular choir.

1531. The village has 29 hearths (households), the first known population figure.

around 1535. The church of Cernier (later Notre-Dame) converts to the Protestant Reformation; it remains an annex of the parish of Fontaines until 1875.

1646. Installation of the temple's nave door, in basket-arch form, still visible today.

1689 and 1691. Installation in the temple of two armorial stained-glass windows bearing the arms of the pastors Rognon (1689) and Boyve (1691).

1734. Reconstruction of the north wall and part of the south wall of the temple, leading to the disappearance of a former north chapel.

1750. 279 inhabitants recorded.

1774. The temple tower is rebuilt in cut stone.

1813. About twenty stray dragoons of Archduke John of Austria are said to have caused damage and alarm in the village (to be cross-checked).

1850. 633 inhabitants.

around 1870. Until then an essentially agricultural village, Cernier sees the arrival of a fabric and furniture sales house, which would later become the Jules Perrenoud & Cie furniture factory.

1875. The church of Cernier is detached from the parish of Fontaines and becomes an autonomous parish.

1877. Cernier becomes the county seat of the district of Val-de-Ruz and the seat of the prefecture (until 1935), as well as of the district court.

1880. Opening of an inter-municipal secondary school, forerunner of the present-day Centre scolaire de La Fontenelle.

1884. Restoration of the temple by the architect Eugène Colomb, who raises the nave walls to the level of those of the choir.

1885. Founding of the communal agricultural school, inaugurated on 12 October with the support of the municipality and eleven neighbouring villages of the Val-de-Ruz.

1886. The agricultural school is taken over by the canton. The same year, the fabric and furniture sales house set up around 1870 becomes a furniture factory. Other sources date the founding of the Jules Perrenoud & Cie company to 1867 (to be cross-checked).

1889. To mark its status as district capital, the village is said to have adopted arms adapted from those of Count Louis de Neuchâtel, with a bird that gave rise to the inhabitants' nickname, « les Éperviers » (to be cross-checked).

1897. Construction of the Town Hall, which houses the municipal administration and the justice of the peace.

1900. 1'361 inhabitants. Around 1900, Cernier has many shops.

1901-1903. Construction, then commissioning in 1903, of the « Régional du Val-de-Ruz », a narrow-gauge electric railway linking the SBB station of Les Hauts-Geneveys to Villiers via Cernier, where the network's depot is located.

1905. The agricultural school acquires its first greenhouse and develops winter theoretical instruction followed by about ten pupils.

1908-1909. Construction of the Catholic church of Cernier, the centre of the Catholic parish of the Val-de-Ruz, in a style known as « chalet neuchâtelois », with stained-glass windows by the Geneva glass-painter C. Jourdin.

1911. Opening of a branch of the Banque cantonale neuchâteloise in Cernier.

early 20th century. The architect Jean-Ulysse Debély (1873-1932) strongly marks the village's urban planning and architecture, notably along the rue Frédéric-Soguel, which became the locality's main thoroughfare.

1920. 1'563 inhabitants. The same year, the regional company's first bus line, departing from Cernier, is put into service.

1922. Opening, on 4 November, of a boarding school at the agricultural school.

1948. The Régional's tramway is replaced by trolleybuses.

1950. 1'440 inhabitants, a slight decline compared with 1920 before the demographic recovery of the second half of the 20th century.

from 1960. Building boom, with high-density and residential districts; Cernier develops its trade and becomes the regional centre of the Val-de-Ruz.

1964. The agricultural school acquires carpentry workshops; the sculpture « Les Galets » is installed at the future site of La Fontenelle.

1966. Mechanics workshops, a large hall and offices of the agricultural extension service are added to the agricultural school site.

1972. The Centre scolaire secondaire de La Fontenelle, which brings together eleven municipalities of the Val-de-Ruz, takes its present form; the sculpture « Ondes réfléchies » is installed there.

1986. The trolleybus is replaced by a coach service.

1991. Installation on the village square of the sculpture « La petite suite » by Patrick Honegger, near the 18th-century fountain.

1995. The agricultural school is reorganised under the name « Site de Cernier ».

2000. 1'921 inhabitants.

2006. The Site de Cernier takes the name « Evologia ».

2006-2007. Construction of the Mycorama, a museum devoted to mushrooms, inaugurated in October 2007 on the Evologia site.

2007. New stained-glass windows by the glass-painter Aloys Perregaux, born in Cernier in 1938, are inaugurated in the temple on the occasion of the Reformation service.

around 2011-2014. The Mycorama closes owing to insufficient visitor numbers (exact year to be cross-checked). The building is now an exhibition hall (Passage des Cèpes).

2012. The TransRUN regional S-Bahn (RER) project, which would have served the Val-de-Ruz, is rejected by popular referendum.

2012. 2'285 inhabitants in the cantonal census of 31 December 2012, the last before the merger.

1 January 2013. Cernier merges with Boudevilliers, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Montmollin, Le Pâquier, Savagnier and Villiers to form the municipality of Val-de-Ruz, of which it becomes the administrative county seat.

2013. Evologia is integrated into the canton of Neuchâtel's Department of Agriculture and develops socio-professional reintegration programmes in addition to its agricultural training mission.

2014. Beginning of the restoration of the dry-stone walls of the Montagne de Cernier.

2025. The municipality of Val-de-Ruz, of which Cernier is the county seat, has 17'533 inhabitants, making it the third municipality of the canton of Neuchâtel by population.

Population of Cernier

29 hearths (households)

1531

279

1750

633

1850

1'361

1900

1'563

1920

1'440

1950

1'921

2000

2'285

2012

Historic sites in Cernier

The temple (Notre-Dame church). The church of Notre-Dame, long a dependency of the parish of Fontaines, became Protestant around 1535 and an independent parish in 1875. Its polygonal choir with star vaults probably dates from the early 16th century, the tower was rebuilt in 1774 and the nave restored in 1884 by the architect Eugène Colomb. It contains a nave door dated 1646, 17th-century armorial stained-glass windows, and modern stained-glass windows by Aloys Perregaux inaugurated in 2007, on themes such as the Annunciation and the Resurrection.

The Catholic church. Built in 1908-1909 as the centre of the Catholic parish of the Val-de-Ruz, in a style known as « chalet neuchâtelois », combining cut stone with a wood-panelled interior. Its stained-glass windows, by the Geneva glass-painter C. Jourdin, depict the patron saints of the former parishes of the Val-de-Ruz.

The Town Hall. Built in 1897 on the rue de l'Épervier, it has housed the municipal administration ever since and long accommodated the justice of the peace, at the time when Cernier was district county seat and seat of the prefecture (1877-1935).

Evologia, the former Cantonal School of Agriculture. Founded in 1885 at the initiative of the municipality and eleven neighbouring villages, inaugurated on 12 October of the same year and taken over by the canton in 1886, the school trained generations of Neuchâtel farmers. Renamed « Site de Cernier » in 1995 and then « Evologia » in 2006, the estate today houses a training centre, a park of old domestic animal breeds and socio-professional reintegration activities.

The village square. The historic centre of the locality, it brings together an 18th-century fountain and the contemporary sculpture « La petite suite » by Patrick Honegger, installed in 1991.

The Centre scolaire de La Fontenelle. An inter-municipal secondary school complex bringing together eleven municipalities of the Val-de-Ruz, whose present form dates from 1972. It houses public artworks, including the sculptures « Les Galets » (1964) and « Ondes réfléchies » (1972).

The former route of the « Régional du Val-de-Ruz ». From 1903, Cernier was the central point and depot of this narrow-gauge electric railway linking Les Hauts-Geneveys to Villiers, which shaped the village's development, particularly along the rue Frédéric-Soguel, which became the main thoroughfare, before being replaced by a trolleybus in 1948 and then by coaches in 1986.

Remains in Cernier

Unexcavated Roman site. The territory of Cernier contains a Roman site that has never been excavated; its exact location and the nature of the remains are not known.

Old architectural elements of the temple. The basket-arch door of the nave (1646), the armorial stained-glass windows of the pastors Rognon (1689) and Boyve (1691), and the late Gothic choir from the early 16th century constitute the main surviving architectural remains of the Cernier temple, despite the alterations of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Dry-stone walls of the Montagne de Cernier. These traditional agricultural enclosures of the Jura, made of dry stones stacked without mortar, illustrate the etymological hypothesis of the village's name linked to « cernil » (enclosure). A programme to restore these walls has been under way since 2014 on the territory of the former Montagne de Cernier.

The former Mycorama building. Built in 2006-2007 on the Evologia site and inaugurated in October 2007 as a museum devoted to mushrooms, the building closed its doors after a few years for lack of sufficient attendance and today serves as an exhibition hall, keeping alive the memory of this original museum venture.

Sources

Other villages near Cernier

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