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Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the district of the same name. With a population of approximately 82,000 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a nexus of economics, transport, culture, and media in the region. The city's urban area consists of 19 municipalities and towns with an overall population of about 220,000 people.
Owing to its location on the shores of Lake Lucerne () and its outflow, the river Reuss, within sight of the mounts Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps, Lucerne has long been a destination for tourists. One of the city's landmarks is the Chapel Bridge (), a wooden bridge first erected in the 14th century.
The official language of Lucerne is German language,The official language in any municipality in German-speaking Switzerland is always German. In this context, the term 'German' is used as an umbrella term for any variety of German. So, according to law, you are allowed to communicate with the authorities by using any kind of German, in written or oral form. However, the authorities will always use Swiss Standard German (aka the Swiss variety of Standard German) in documents, or any written form. And orally, it is either Hochdeutsch (i.e., Swiss Standard German or what the particular speaker considers as High German), or then it depends on the speaker's origin, which dialectal variant (s)he is using. but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic German Swiss German dialect, Lucerne German.
Around 750 the Benedictine Monastery of St. Leodegar was founded, which was later acquired by Murbach Abbey in Alsace in the middle of the 9th century, and by this time the area had become known as Luciaria.
The origin of the name is uncertain, it is possibly derived from the Latin name of the Northern pike, , thus designating a pike fishing spot in the river Reuss. Derivation from the theonym Lugus has been suggested but is phonetically implausible. In any case, the name was associated by popular etymology with Latin lucerna 'lantern' from an early time.Andres Kristol (ed.), Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen (2005), p. 558.
In 1178 Lucerne acquired its independence from the jurisdiction of Murbach Abbey, and the founding of the city proper probably occurred that same year. The city gained importance as a strategically located gateway for the growing commerce from the Gotthard trade route.
By 1290, Lucerne had become a self-sufficient city of reasonable size with about 3000 inhabitants. About this time King Rudolph I von Habsburg gained authority over the Monastery of St. Leodegar and its lands, including Lucerne. The populace was not content with the increasing Habsburg influence, and Lucerne allied with neighboring towns to seek independence from their rule. Along with Lucerne, the three other forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed the "eternal" Swiss Confederacy, known as the Eidgenossenschaft, on November 7, 1332.
Later the cities of Zürich, Zug and Bern joined the alliance. With the help of these additions, the rule of Austria over the area came to an end. The issue was settled by Lucerne's victory over the Habsburgs in the Battle of Sempach in 1386. For Lucerne this victory ignited an era of expansion. The city shortly granted many rights to itself, rights which had been withheld by the Habsburgs until then. By this time the borders of Lucerne were approximately those of today.
In 1419 town records show the first witch trial against a male person.
In 1471, the law was passed to persecute the Romani people of Indian origin.
Lucerne was besieged by a peasant army and quickly signed a peace treaty with the rebels in the Swiss peasant war of 1653.
The 1804 play William Tell by Friedrich Schiller did much to establish the reputation of Lucerne and its environs. Schiller himself had not been to Lucerne, but was inspired to write the play by his wife Lotte and his friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who had both personally visited the city and its surrounding canton. Goethe had lodged in the Hirschenplatz on his route to Italy in 1779.
It was during the latter part of the 19th century that Lucerne became a popular destination for artists, royalty and others to escape to. The German composer Richard Wagner established a residence at Tribschen in 1866, where he lived and worked. The city was then boosted by a visit by Queen Victoria to the city in 1868, during which she went sightseeing at the Kapellbrücke and the Lion Monument and relished speaking with local people in her native German.
The American writer Mark Twain further popularised the city and its environs in his travel writings after visiting twice, in 1878 and 1897. In 1892 Swiss poet and future Nobel laureate Carl Spitteler also established himself in Lucerne, living there until his death in 1924.
Lucerne's status as a fashionable destination led to it becoming one of the first centres of modern-style tourism. Some of the city's most recognisable buildings are hotels from this period, such as the Schweizerhof Hotel (1845), Grand Hotel National (1870), and Château Gütsch (1879). It was at the National that Swiss hotelier César Ritz would establish himself as manager between 1878 and 1888.
Besides this contiguous city area, the municipality also includes an exclave on the south shore of Lake Lucerne some away, comprising the northern slopes of the Bürgenstock. This section of the municipality is entirely surrounded by the lake and by land of the canton of Nidwalden. It does not contain any significant settlements, but the summit of the Bürgenstock is the highest point of the municipality.
The municipality has an area of . Of this area and , 28.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 22.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 47.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
, Luzern's City Council is made up of one representative of the SP (Social Democratic Party, who is also the mayor) and one of the GPS (Green Party), both elected in first round, and another one of the SP, and one each of Centre (Centre Oarty, former CVP) and FDP (FDP.The Liberals), all elected on second round. This gives the left parties a majority. The last regular election were held on 28 April/8 June 2024. Except for the mayor, all other councilors are newly electeds.
Michèle Bucher (FDP) is Town Chronicler ( Stadtschreiberin) since 2020.
The sessions of the Grand City Council are public. Unlike members of the City Council, members of the Grand City Council are not politicians by profession, and they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Luzern allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the Grand City Council. The parliament holds its meetings in the Rathaus (Town Hall) am Kornmarkt.
The last regular election of the Grand City Council was held on 28 April 2024 for the mandate period () from September 2024 to August 2028. Currently the Grand City Council consist of 13 members of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS) (+-0) and one of its junior section, the JUSO, 8 (+2) Green Party (GPS/PES) and one of its junior section, the jg of Luzern, 8 (-1) The Liberals (FDP/PLR), 7 (+-0) Centre Party (former CVP/PDC), 6 (-1) Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), and 4 (+-0) Green Liberal Party (GLP/PVL).
In the 2015 election for the Swiss National Council the most popular party was the SP which received 25.8% of the vote. The next five most popular parties were the SVP (19.5%), the FDP (15.4%), the CVP (14.1%), the GPS (13.3%), and the GLP (8.9%). In the federal election, a total of 26,521 voters were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.48%.
Lucerne has a population (as of 31 December 2021) of 82,771 As of 2021, 20,508 or 24.78% of the population was made up of foreign nationals, of which 18.22% are from Europe, 3.63% from Asia, 1.85% from Africa and 0.97% from Americas. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.2%.
Most of the population (as of 2020) speak German language (83.26%), with English language with 7.45%, as well as Italian language (5.06%) and Serbo-Croatian (3.80%) being respectively second, third and fourth most common first languages reported. Following, there are Portuguese (2.81%), Spanish language (2.53%), Albanian (2.25%) and French language (2.11%) language speakers.
The age distribution in Lucerne is (); 12,916 people or 15.7% of the population is 0–19 years old. 26,381 people or 33.8% are 20–39 years old, and 25,863 people or 32.1% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 10,530 people or 13.1% are 65–79 years old, 4,208 or 5.2% are 80–89 years old and 900 people or 1.1% of the population are 90+ years old.
In Lucerne about 73.6% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Lucerne is home to a number of major Swiss companies, including AlpTransit Gotthard rail link, Schindler Group, Chronoswiss, Emmi AG, and the Luzerner Kantonalbank. Suva, one of Switzerland's oldest accident insurance companies, is also based in Lucerne, as is the University of Lucerne, the youngest of Switzerland's traditional universities. An international company is the EF Education First. Thanks to its continuous tax-cutting policies, Lucerne has become Switzerland's most business-friendly canton. Lucerne offers Switzerland's lowest corporate tax rate at cantonal level.
One of the first export oriented branches was the production of from the 14th century onwards. Lucerne imported iron and steel and the cities blacksmiths produced scythes which were exported to western Switzerland and northern Italy. The workshops of the blacksmiths were located in the outskirts of the city due to fire concerns. The workshops at the Krienbach creek included hammers moved by watermills.
Furthermore, Lucerne also offers very moderate personal income tax rates. In a recent published study of BAK Basel Economics taxation index 2012, Lucerne made it to the 4th place with an only marginally 2% higher tax rate compared to the top canton in this comparison.
Downriver, between the Kasernenplatz and the Mühlenplatz, the Spreuer Bridge ( Spreuerbrücke or Mühlenbrücke, Mill Bridge) zigzags across the Reuss. Constructed in 1408, it features a series of medieval-style 17th century plague paintings by Kaspar Meglinger (de) titled Dance of Death ( Totentanzzyklus). The bridge has a small chapel in the middle that was added in 1568.
Old Town Lucerne is mainly located just north of the Reuss, and still has several fine half-timber structures with painted fronts. Remnants of the old town walls exist on the hill above Lucerne, complete with eight tall watch towers. An additional gated tower sits at the base of the hill on the banks of the Reuss.
The twin needle towers of the Church of St. Leodegar, which was named after the city's patron saint, sit on a small hill just above the lake front. Originally built in 735, the present structure was erected in 1633 in the late Renaissance style. However, the towers are surviving remnants of an earlier structure. The interior is richly decorated. The church is popularly called the Hofkirche (in German) and is known locally as the Hofchile (in Swiss-German).
Bertel Thorvaldsen's carving of a dying lion (the Lion Monument, or Löwendenkmal) is found in a small park just off the Löwenplatz. The carving commemorates the hundreds of Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when an armed mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.
The Swiss Museum of Transport is a large and comprehensive museum exhibiting all forms of transport, including , , , and aircraft. It is to be found beside the lake in the northern-eastern section of the city.
The Culture and Convention Center (KKL) beside the lake in the center of the city was designed by Nouvel Jean. The center has one of the world's leading concert halls, with acoustics by Russell Johnson.
The Richard Wagner Museum is found on the lake at Tribschen and is dedicated to the composer Richard Wagner. Wagner lived in Lucerne from 1866 to 1872 and his former villa now hosts the museum dedicated to him.
Alternative culture took place mostly on the premises of a former tube factory, which became known as Boa. Other localities for alternative culture have since emerged in the same inner city area as Boa. Initially, Boa staged various plays, but concerts became more and more common; this new use of the building clashed with the development of apartment buildings on nearby lots of land. Due to possible noise pollution, Boa was closed and a replacement in a less heavily inhabited area is currently under construction. Critics claimed though that the new establishment would not meet the requirements for an alternative culture.
Südpol is a center for performing arts in Lucerne presenting music-, dance- and theatre-events. The house at the foot of Pilatus opened in November 2008.
Lucerne is home to the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, a category A symphonic orchestra, and to the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra, and they both hold most of their performances in the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre.
The city hosts various renowned festivals throughout the year. The Lucerne Festival for classical music takes place in the summer. Its orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, is hand-picked from some of the finest instrumentalists in the world. In June yearly the pop music festival B-Sides takes place in Lucerne. It focuses on international acts in Alternative rock, indie rock, experimental rock and other cutting edge and left field artistic musical genres. In July, the Blue Balls Festival brings jazz, blues and punk music to the lake promenade and halls of the Culture and Convention Center. The Lucerne Blues Festival is another musical festival which usually takes place in November. Since spring 2004, Lucerne has hosted the Festival Rose d'Or for television entertainment. And in April, the well-established comics festival Fumetto attracts an international audience.
Being the cultural center of a rather rural region, Lucerne regularly holds different folklore festivals, such as Lucerne Cheese Festival, held annually. In 2004, Lucerne was the focus of Schwingen fans when it had hosted the Swiss Wrestling and Alpine festival ( Eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älplerfest), which takes place every three years in a different location. A national music festival ( Eidgenössiches Musikfest) attracted marching bands from all parts of Switzerland in 2006. In summer 2008, the yodelling festival ( Eidgenössisches Jodlerfest) had a similar impact.
The 2021 Winter Universiade was planned to be hosted by Lucerne, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lucerne boasts a developed and well-run transport network, with the main operator, Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern (VBL), running both the trolleybuses in Lucerne and a network in the city and to neighboring municipalities. Other operators, such as PostAuto Schweiz and Auto AG Rothenburg, provide bus services to other towns and villages.
Three other railway stations are located within the city boundaries, with close to the Swissporarena in the south of the city, in the former municipality of Littau and the adjacent to the Swiss Museum of Transport in the east.
Lucerne's city transit system is fully integrated into the coherent and integrated fare network system called passepartout encompassing all kind of public transport in the cantons of Lucerne, Obwalden, and Nidwalden.
A funicular, Gütschbahn, links the city to Château Gütsch, 90 m above. Standseilbahn Hotel Montana runs from the lakefront to Hotel Montana. From 1912 to 1978, there was Dietschibergbahn at Dietschiberg.
The city's main Ice hockey team is the HC Luzern which plays in the Swiss Second League, the fourth tier of Swiss hockey. They play their home games in the 5,000-seat Swiss Life Arena.
In the past, Lucerne also produced national successes in men's Team handball and women's volleyball and softball.
Having a long tradition of equestrianism, Lucerne has co-hosted CSIO Switzerland, an international equestrian show jumping event, until it left entirely for St. Gallen in 2006. Since then, the Lucerne Equestrian Masters replaced it. There is also an annual horse racing event, usually taking place in August.
Lucerne annually hosts the final leg of the World Rowing Cup on Rotsee Lake. Numerous World Rowing Championships have been held in Lucerne including the inaugural World Championships of 1962 and then the regattas of 1974, 1982 and 2001.
Lucerne hosts the annual Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern track and field meeting, which attracts world class athletes such as Yohan Blake and Valerie Adams.
The city also provides facilities for ice-hockey, figure-skating, golf, human swimming, basketball, Rugby union, skateboarding, climbing and more.
Lucerne hosted FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event Lucerne Open 2015 and FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship in 2016.
Climate
Between 1961 and 1990 Lucerne had an average of 138.1 days of rain per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was June during which time Lucerne received an average of of rainfall. During this month there was rainfall for an average of 14.2 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 10.2 days. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).
Politics
Government
The City Council ( Stadtrat) constitutes the executive government of the city of Lucerne and operates as a collegiate authority. It is composed of five councilors (), each presiding over a directorate ( Direktion) comprising several departments and bureaus. The president of the executive department acts as mayor ( Stadtpräsident). In the mandate period ( Legislatur) September 2024 – August 2028 the City Council is presided by Stadtpräsident Beat Züsli. Departmental tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the Grand City Council are carried by the City Council. The regular election of the City Council by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years. Any resident of Lucerne allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the City Council. The delegates are selected by means of a system of Majorz. The mayor is elected as such as well by public election while the heads of the other directorates are assigned by the collegiate.
+ The City Council ( Stadtrat) of Luzern 2024-2028
! City Councilor
( Stadtrat/-rätin) !! Party !! Head of Directorate ( Direktion, since) of !! elected since2016 2024 2024 2024 2024
Parliament
The Grand City Council ( Grosser Stadtrat) holds legislative power. It is made up of 48 members, with elections held every four years. The Grand City Council decrees regulations and by-laws that are executed by the City Council and the administration. The delegates are selected by means of a system of proportional representation.
National elections
National Council
In the 2019 federal election for the Swiss National Council the most popular party was the PS which received 25.0% (-0.7) of the vote. The next five most popular parties were the Green Party (20.8%, +7.4), the SVP (15.0%, -4.6), the CVP (14.1%, 0), FDP (13.0%, -2.5), the glp (10.5%, +1.8). In the federal election a total of 25,836 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.5%.
International relations
Twin towns
Lucerne is twinned with the following towns:
Demographics
+Largest groups of foreign residents 2021 4.56 (18.39) 2.69 (10.85) 1.66 (6.71) 866 1.05 (4.22) 1.02 (4.11) 0.95 (3.82) 0.86 (3.48) 0.76 (3.07) 499 0.60 (2.43) 0.52 (2.09) 0.44 (1.78) 0.39 (1.57) there are 30,586 households, of which 15,452 households (or about 50.5%) contain only a single individual. 853 or about 2.8% are large households, with at least five members. there were 5,707 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 4,050 were built only as housing, and 1,657 were mixed use buildings. There were 1,152 single family homes, 348 double family homes, and 2,550 multi-family homes in the municipality. Most homes were either two (787) or three (1,468) story structures. There were only 74 single story buildings and 1,721 four or more story buildings.
Religion
The city grew up around Sankt Leodegar Abbey, founded in AD 840, and remained strongly Roman Catholic into the 21st century. By 1850, 96.9% of the population was Catholic, in 1900 it was 81.9% and in 1950 it was still 72.3%. the religious membership of Lucerne was: 35,682 (60%) Roman Catholic, 9,227 (15.5%) Protestant, with an additional 1,979 (3.33%) who were of some other Christian denominations; 1,824 individuals (3.07% of the population) Muslim; 196 individuals (0.33% of the population) Jewish. Of the remainder, 1,073 (1.8%) individuals were another religion; 6,310 (10.61%) stated they do not belong to any organized religion; and 3,205 (5.39%) did not answer the question.
Economy
, there were a total of 77,641 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 166 people worked in 53 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 7,326 workers in 666 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 70,149 jobs in 6,929 businesses. In 2013 a total of 11.0% of the population received social assistance. 51.7% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, women made up 47.9% of the workforce.
Sights
Since the city straddles the Reuss where it drains the lake, it has a number of bridges. These include the Chapel Bridge ( Kapellbrücke), a long wooden covered bridge originally built in 1333, the oldest covered bridge in Europe, although much of it had to be replaced after a fire on 18 August 1993, allegedly caused by a discarded cigarette. Partway across, the bridge runs by the octagonal Water Tower ( Wasserturm), a fortification from the 13th century. Inside the bridge are a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Lucerne's history.
Culture and events
Culture
Since plans for the new culture and convention centre arose in the late 1980s, Lucerne has found a balance between the so-called established culture and alternative culture. A consensus was reached that culminated in a culture compromise (Kulturkompromiss). The established culture comprises the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre (KKL), the city theater (Luzerner Theater) and, in a broader sense, smaller establishments such as the Kleintheater, founded by comedian Emil Steinberger, a Lucerne native, or Stadtkeller, a music restaurant in the city's old town. KKL houses a concert hall as well as the Museum of Art Lucerne (Kunstmuseum Luzern).
Lucerne in art
Events
Every year, towards the end of winter, Fasnacht (Carnival) breaks out in the streets, alleyways and squares of the old town. This is a glittering outdoor party, where chaos and merriment reign, and nothing is as it normally is. Strange characters in fantastic masks and costumes make their way through the alleyways, while Guggenmusiken (carnival bands) blow their instruments in joyful cacophony and thousands of bizarrely clad people sing and dance away the winter. , based on religious, Catholic backgrounds, starts every year on the Thursday before Aschermittwoch (Ash Wednesday) at 5 am with a detonation called Urknall (Big Bang), the signal to begin the Tagwache (wake-up procession). There are big parades in the afternoon on Schmotzige Donnerstag (literally: Fat Tuesday) and the following Monday, called Güdismontag (literally: Shrove Monday), which attract tens of thousands of people. Lucerne's Carnival ends with a crowning finish on Güdisdienstag (literally: Fat Tuesday) evening with the Monstercorso, a tremendous parade of Guggenmusiken, lights and lanterns with even a larger audience. Rather recently a fourth Fasnacht day has been introduced on the Saturday between the other Fasnacht days, the Rüüdige Samstag while mainly several indoor balls take place. From dusk till dawn on the evenings of Schmotzige Donnerstag, Güdismontag, and after the Monstercorso many bands wander through the historical part of the city playing typical Fasnacht tunes. Until midnight, the historical part of the city usually is packed with people participating. A large part of the audience are also dressed up in costumes, even a majority in the evenings.
Transport
After Ferdinand von Zeppelin landed his Zeppelin in Lucerne in 1909, the city became a pioneer for the aeronautical industry in Switzerland. In February 1910 the country's first (and after the DELAG of Germany the second in the worldWaldis, Alfred (2002), p. 58) air transport company was founded,Waldis, Alfred (2002), p. 53 in July the same year then also the first airship hangar at Tribschenmoos.Waldis, Alfred (2002), p. 54–55 The company provided flights with airships until 1914 without notable accidents.
is one of Switzerland's principal stations, and is well-connected to the rest of Switzerland via [[railway|Rail transport]] services operated by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS), the Südostbahn SOB, the [[BLS|BLS AG]] and the [[Zentralbahn (zb)|Zentralbahn]]. There are 40 trains per day between Lucerne and Zürich, with an average travel time of 48 minutes. [[Zurich Airport]] can be reached in just over an hour. Adjacent to the station is Luzern Bahnhofquai, from which ships of the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company operate to various destinations on [[Lake Lucerne]]. Between April and mid October, the tourist oriented Gotthard Panorama Express connects Lucerne with [[Lugano]] once a day by boat and train, travelling by boat along the length of [[Lake Lucerne]] and then by train over the historic high-level Gotthard route.
Sport
There are several football clubs throughout the city. The most successful one is FC Luzern which plays in Switzerland's premier league (Swiss Super League). The club plays its home matches at the new Swissporarena, with a capacity of 16,800.
Gallery
Notable people
See also
Notes and references
Notes
Further reading
External links
Categories: Www.luzern.ch Official Website, Cities In Switzerland, Cantonal Capitals Of Switzerland, Lucerne, Municipalities Of The Canton Of Lucerne, Populated Places Established In The 1st Millennium, Lakeside Resorts In Switzerland, Free Imperial Cities, Populated Places On Lake Lucerne, 1330s Establishments In The Holy Roman Empire, 1332 Establishments In Europe, 14th-century Establishments In The Old Swiss Confederacy
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