Neuchâtel, a one-thousand-year old city, takes its roots in 1011. It owns then a modest new castle and a few houses. Situated on the shores of a lake which Neuchâtel gave its name to, the city will celebrate in 2011 the thousandth year of its first appearance in a text. This birthday makes reference to the act of donation by Rodolphe III, last remaining king of Burgundy, to his spouse, indicating for the very first time the name of “Novum Castellum”, surrounded by “Averniacum” (Auvernier) and “Arena” (St-Blaise). Enriched by a history strongly influenced by several different European mentalities (of the Rhineland, Burgundian, French,  Prussian…), Neuchâtel will benefit, thanks to its location, from an important economical and cultural development.  This richness can still be seen nowadays in its houses and its suburbs, gradually conquered from a magnificent vineyard.  Neuchâtel became confederate at the same time than the Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel, which it is the county town of, and it counts today a little bit more than 30 000 inhabitants; Neuchâtel also plays a noticed role in the Country of the Three Lakes.