Lucerne: Switzerland’s First City

Lucerne and its lake is one of the prime tourist locations in Switzerland. It was the first city to join the Swiss Confederation and started to attract tourists as early as 1840 when the term tourist had not even been invented. 

The city of Lucerne was founded before the year 1200. Before that, there had been the monastery of St. Leodegar founded by local Alemannic nobility and endowed by the Carolingian Kings. The monastery formed part of the Abbey in Murbach in the Alsace. Murbach in turn became part of the Hapsburg family goods in 1135. In 1291, King Rudolf of Hapsburg bought St. Leodegar and its lands from the Abbey in Murbach.

As this acquisition of Rudolf’s had only been one in a long line of buying up the lands around Lucerne, the city felt threatened to come into a Hapsburg strangle hold. It therefore joined the Swiss Confederation in 1332 as the first city. As such, it would have considerable influence in the development of Switzerland during next few hundred years.

Local legend has it that the pro Hapsburg faction planned to take the city by force in 1333. But the plotters’ meeting was overheard by a little boy who was discovered and made to swear not to tell a soul. The boy went to the town hall into the meeting of the council and told the heating oven all about the plot.

The constant wrangling with the Hapsburg family found its culmination in the battle of Sempach in 1386 when the Swiss defeated and killed Duke Leopold III of Austria. Lucerne received its Charter of Freedom in 1415 from Emperor Sigismund who banned Duke Frederic IV of Austria at the same time. In consequence, the Swiss annexed Habsburg lands, goods, and possessions north of the Alps.

During the Reformation, Lucerne was the only major Swiss city that remained Catholic. St. Leodegar became the seat of the Papal Nuncio to the Confederation. Lucerne retained its hegemony in the Catholic dominated Confederation until 1712 when the Protestant cities of Basel, Zürich, and Bern took the lead.

The name Lucerne is derived from the Latin lucerna, an oil lamp. This was a euphemism to make forget the lowly beginnings of the city. King Pippin called the region Luciaria meaning a basket made from reeds. It may be that there was a little fishing community there. Today the city is still known as the city of light; the ploy worked.

Lucerne attracted tourists very early on and carefully expanded that industry since 1840. The rest of Switzerland, though, calls Lucerne the ‘rain bucket’ as the city records more rainy days in a year than any other spot in Switzerland. A local tourist director made this into a virtue, offering tours to Lucerne to Sheiks from the Arab desert to whom rain was guaranteed during their two week stay in Lucerne on a money back guarantee. No pay-back had to be made at any time.

Important inhabitants to the city of Lucerne were the members of the family Pfyffer von Altishofen who led the Swiss Guard in the Vatican for 200 years running. Contemporary painter and sculptor Hans Erni hails from Lucerne as well. 

Further reading
Museum City: Basel
Zurich is More Than Banks
Bern: Seat of The Swiss Federal Government