Welcome to 1900 ! Even if it has a modest, if not austere look, the architecture of the city of La chaux-de-Fonds is nonetheless still very concentrated.

After the 1794 accidental fire that almost destroyed the entire city, the future - on a swiss scale - large city -today the third largest french speaking city after Geneva and Lausanne - acquired a grid-pattern layout. It was decreed a national heritage site by the Swiss Confederation in 1984, thanks to its typical urban planning being consistent with the Age of Enlightenment. A prosperous horological city at the turn of the 20th century, it was an active participant in all the avant-garde artistic movements that marked all the major european cities of that period: Art Nouveau and then Art Deco. A heritage that we've inherited virtually intact; a consequence, perhaps, of the deep crisis within the horological industry which has limited the « (re)constructionnistes » ambitions of the city. An invitation to explore some of these treasures.

Photo Ebel, Villa Turque
Rue du Doubs 167 (localiser)
2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds
www.ebel.com
Tel + 41 (0)32 912 31 47