Be sure to have a closer look on Fritschi Fountain (built 1918) on Kapellplatz. Though actually less than 100 years old, the fountain stands in the tradition of much older Renaissance style fountains with painted allegoric figures on top. You may find such fountains in any major Swiss city, particularly famous are the eleven fountains in the Swiss capital Bern.
Legendary brother Fritschi plays an important role in Lucerne's Carnival tradition. Brother Fritschi's grave is supposed to be under this fountain, on the medieval graveyard attached to St. Peter's Chapel. No one knows who Brother Fritschi really was. The legend goes back to around 1450 and the most probable explanation is that there was a farmer (or farmhand) living outside town making jokes whenever he came to town. Medieval town clerk and chronist Cysat reports that Fritschi left some money to the Safran guild on condition that they serve wine to the poor during Fasacht. The guild is still fullfilling this obligation today and has dedicated one storey of their guild rooms in Nölliturm to Brother Fritschi (the location is not open to the public, however).
After his death, Brother Fritschi remained very popular and was portrayed in many different ways. Among others, a figure made of straw with the features of an old man represented him. In earlier centuries, groups of young people from the other member towns of the old Swiss confederacy used to visit one of the other towns about once a year, have some sports competition and drink lots of beer and wine. Often a town's mascot, a flag etc. were kidnapped during such visits so that the hosts would have a reason to visit the town of the kidnappers soon. So Brother Fritschi as a straw figure saw some other Swiss towns ...
Today two young members of the guilds dress as Brother Fritschi and his wife (the "Fritschine") on Fasnacht Thursday (Schmotzige Donschtig) for the opening ceremony.
In earlier centuries the town ended here with a wall and a gate, and the famous wooden Chapel Bridge, now ending here, had a second part leading over shallow water to Hof Church where you now can walk under chestnut trees along the new lake shore. Both bridges were part of the fortifications. Today, there is only one tower left at Schwanenplatz. Other parts of the fortifications, namely the Musegg Wall on the north side of the medieval town, have been preserved, however. We will see some of its prominent towers during our tour.
Our tour starts right at the pedestrian crossing, we go straight to the west and the second building on the left side is St. Peter's Chapel, situated at Kapellplatz.
First mentioned in 1356, Kornmarkt was the grain market place of the city until the 19th century. The ground floor of the town hall served as a grain storage from 1438, from 1447 on the upper parts of the building served as town hall. Today the city administration is located on the other side of River Reuss, but there are still some official activities, for example marriage ceremonies (which have to take place in front of a town clerk to be valid under Swiss law).
The Swiss Alps (German: Schweizer Alpen, French: Alpes suisses, Italian: Alpi svizzere, Romansh: Alps svizras) are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position with the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps.
The highest summit in the Swiss Alps is the Dufourspitze (4,634 metres (15,202 ft)) near the Swiss-Italian border. The highest mountain which lies entirely on Swiss territory is the Dom (4,545 metres (14,911 ft)). Other main summits can be found in the list of mountains in Switzerland.
Louis the German in 853 granted his lands in the Reuss River valley to the monastery of St Felix and Regula in Zürich (modern day Fraumünster) of which his daughter Hildegard was the first abbess. According to legend this occurred after a stag bearing an illuminated crucifix between his antlersappeared to him in the marshland outside the town, at the shore of Lake Zürich. However, there is evidence that the monastery was already in existence before 853. The Fraumünster is across the river from the Grossmünster, which according to legend was founded by Charlemagne himself, as his horse fell to his knees on the spot where the martyrs Felix and Regula were buried.
