Swiss Travelogue: Luzern
Luzern (better known in the US by its French name, Lucerne) sits in the middle of Switzerland above the Gotthard Pass, for centuries the main trade — and invasion — route through the Alps from Italy. It’s also close to where Switzerland’s German east meets its French west. And if that wasn’t culture clash enough, Luzern became Switzerland’s front line between Catholicism and Protestantism during the Reformation. It’s long been a vulnerable crossroad, which likely instilled extra sensitivity in its inhabitants to the threat — and cost — of conflict.
Switzerland has been militarily neutral since 1815, but in earlier times it produced warriors so loyal and fearsome European rulers hired Swiss Guards to protect them. Louis XVI’s Swiss Guards died in droves defending the Tuileries Palace during the French Revolution. To assure their bravery would be remembered, Luzern had a sculpture of a mortally wounded lion carved into a wall of rock.
The Lion Monument draws tons of tourists, not all of whom honor the site’s solemnity. We were shocked by how many had their photos taken in front of it with big smiles and sexy poses. Imagine how Americans would feel if busloads of foreigners made TikTok dance videos at Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial.
The Lion Monument is just one of Luzern’s relics of past strife. During the late 13th and early 14th century, the town built a Water Tower in the Reuss (pronounced Royce) River to provide protection and imprison malefactors. Later in the 14th century it erected the Chapel Bridge, a defensive barrier that spanned the Reuss. To the immediate west of the tower and bridge, city leaders constructed the onion-domed Jesuit Church in the 1660s as a spiritual bulwark against advancing Protestantism.
Luzern also built a wall, much of which still stands along the northern section of the old town. The Fabulous Wife and I climbed the wall more than once, in part because she’s from Ohio and likes cattle, and guess what you find on the other side?
The medieval threats have faded into history, but Luzern remains well-defended. Switzerland is so small that a fast plane can traverse it in 15 minutes. To give its air force maximum maneuvering room, Switzerland has put a base near centrally-located Luzern. Every afternoon we heard fighter jets training above the clouds.
I don’t mean to imply that Luzern is a hunkered-down fortress. Anything but! It’s loaded with open vistas, tasty food, and interesting art. The view west of town is majestic Mount Pilatus.
The Swiss generally shy from spicy or intense comestibles, but in Luzern we found picante spicing, intense gelato, and Willisauer Ringli. The latter are lemon zest cookies hard as shale, customarily eaten by placing one in your palm and slamming it with your opposite elbow, then dunking the pieces into your morning coffee or tea. They were the second taste sensation of the trip, after Galvanina grapefruit soda in Bern.
And you almost literally can’t turn a corner without seeing art in Luzern, because even the buildings are festooned with it. This, for instance, is the frescoed Dornach Building (1900) in the Hirschenplatz.
If you prefer art on interior walls, you can go to the Kunstmuseum Luzern, but we found the air stultifying and left in less than an hour. Better ventilated is the Rosengart Sammlung, which specializes in the drawings of Paul Klee and the late paintings of Pablo Picasso. By the 1960s Picasso was mostly rehashing the themes that made him famous, dashing off works so hastily he not only signed them with the year of completion, but the month and day. Some of the result is appealing, but I found much of it first-rate second-rate. The moral of the story? If you love art, stroll old town Luzern and enjoy the building facades.
