Lucerne is the heart of Switzerland

Group and individual tours of Lucerne.
Group tours are held - Mon. - Saturday. 11.00 - 14.00 and 15.00 - 19.00

Group of 5. Euro 30.00 per person

Lucerne is considered the main city of Central Switzerland - the most Swiss part of the country and, as the Swiss say, Lucerne - the heart of Switzerland. There is an opinion that it is among the top ten places in the world, which especially prefer to visit the secular public. Queen Victoria of England has visited here many times. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was very fond of this place, the count usually stayed at the Schweizerhof hotel, which exists today, so if you want, you can follow his example. Despite the rapid spread of Protestant ideas in Switzerland during the years of reform and war with the Catholic cantons opposing the reformers, Lucerne remained a Catholic city and later became the center of the Counter-Reformation. After the collapse of the First Confederation, Lucerne existed as the seat of the Swiss government until 1799. Lucerne, translated from Latin, means “the city that emits light”. It seems that fate has prepared this city for an enviable fate, in the history of uniting scattered, vulnerable cantons into a single, united, albeit small, Swiss state. Lucerne was founded in 1178 on the site of a small fishing village. Back in the VIII century, Benedictine monks settled here, bringing the light of the Christian faith to these wild, then uninhabited lands. When the great trade route of Saint Gotthard was mastered later - and it was in the thirteenth century - Lucerne began to grow as a trading and multifaceted cultural center. Here, like blood vessels to the heart, stretched roads from all European countries. And so, five hundred years later, Lucerne became one of the main tourist and transshipment hubs in Europe. In 1845, the first luxury hotel was built in the city. Today they are just a great many. “Kings here have always felt like guests and guests like kings,” the people of Lucerne say. And they say that it is enough to visit Lucerne to see all of Switzerland. And this is also true – you will easily see this by taking a tour of Lucerne. What was on the site of present Lucerne in prehistoric times, you can easily imagine, being on the territory of the Ice Park. It is located in the hilly northern part of the city and is the only natural park of its kind in Europe. It was equipped in 1872 and since then is considered one of the main attractions of Lucerne. Here directly to the surface are layers of ancient rocks dug with potholes, caves and grottoes. At the foot of the Ice Park is the monument “The Dying Lion”. This is a huge figure of the beast, carved into a sheer rock: the lion lies, crushing a shield and a broken spear that pierced it through, and seems to sleep eternally. The grandiose monument was designed by the Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen in 1821 in memory of the valiant Swiss guards who died in 1792 in the Tuileries, protecting the life and honor of the French King Louis XVI. Having once raided Lucerne and looked at the mighty rock statue, Mark Twain, with his inherent vividness of imagination, said: "This is perhaps the most dull and sad rock on earth." To distract from sad thoughts, you should go to the nearby funny mirror maze, where you can have fun from the heart, as in any maze is always fun. Next, we will go to the Cathedral of St. Leodegar, so named in honor of the patron of the city. Actually, from this sacred place, surrounded by a massive stone fence, and leads its history Lucerne. It was here that in 735 Benedictine monks founded their monastery, around which a whole city grew centuries later. However, in 1633, this blessed place suffered a sad fate: the cathedral and annexes burned down in a fire that spared nothing but two or three Gothic towers. Over time, the temple was rebuilt, but in a style characteristic of the Renaissance, and today is a majestic sight. In the fragrantly flowered courtyard around the cathedral are rows of tombs, where the ashes of representatives of ancient eminent Lucerne families rest. We will then head towards the River Reis. There are several bridges across the Flight, but two of them are ancient, and therefore especially remarkable. The first, covered, is called the Chapel, or Capellebrücke. Here once housed rich shopping arcades, and now stands the picturesque Gothic fountain, decorated with figures of medieval knights led by Saint Mauritius, the patron saint of all warriors. The chapel bridge, erected in the XIV century, is considered a kind of hallmark of Lucerne. Above its roof, exactly in the middle, stands a chapel tower rising directly from the waters of the river. And under the roof, in full length, there are 112 wooden paintings, which represent not only the history of Lucerne, but also the whole of Switzerland. Next we will go to the Mill Bridge - it is also covered and located to the right of the Chapel. Residential houses and hotels approach directly to the water; here, by the water itself, the streets also break off. Above the water are small covered and open terraces and restaurants. In general, it seems that this quarter rises from the waters of the Reis. In general, a walk along the old part of the city and along the shores of the lake gives such pleasure that it is necessary to part with it with great regret. The museum of transport on Lidostrasse, 5 deserves a visit. This is a huge complex where you can ride on a mountain railway, ride in a carriage drawn by four horses, fly by plane and in a spaceship, go down to the depths of the sea in a submarine. It is clear that “something” is actually happening, and “something” is happening with the help of modern computer technology.

See you in Lucerne!