Hi Hive Friends,
Today I would like to introduce you to the city of Lucerne. In my last post I introduced you to one of the most famous landmarks of Lucerne, the Lion Monument. But Lucerne has much more to offer. Lucerne is a mixture of nature, city and a lot of history. And next door there are the mountains for hiking. What more could you want?
Lucerne is virtually embedded in an incredible mountain parnoama. Please have a look at my travel story about Mount Pilatus. Here we took a rack railroad up to the mountain.
Lucerne is also often called the "gateway to Central Switzerland". But the cityscape of Lucerne is mainly characterized by the medieval Chapel Bridge, which I would like to show you today. It has gable paintings and is one of the oldest covered wooden bridges in Europe.
A futuristic culture and congress center with innovative design
The old town of Lucerne is car-free. But the city is not only known for its beautiful old town. Lucerne also has something very modern about it. Because old and new become completely different terms here. Lucerne is already known far beyond Switzerland as an architecturally very modern city. There are an incredible number of innovative designs here.
The Culture and Congress Center here particularly caught my eye. It looks very futuristic, what do you say ?
It was designed by the French star architect Jean Nouvel. But it is not only a congress center, it is also the landmark of the "Festival City Lucerne". That's why there are so many cultural events here.
A congress hall like in a metropolis
In fact, I was very surprised that such a small city like Lucerne has such an impressive congress hall. I would have expected such a "work of art" (yes, for me it is somehow already art;;) rather in Berlin or London, at least in a metropolis.
The Culture and Convention Center Lucerne is also called KKL for short (hence the writing on the building, you can see that well on the photos). The hall is located directly on Lake Lucerne.
Originally, architect Jean Nouvel planned to build the new concert hall in the shape of a ship directly into Lake Lucerne. Can you imagine that, directly into the lake? Such ideas can only come from artists. Unfortunately, the idea could not be realized.
The architect finally changed his plan: If he couldn't go to the water, the water should just come to him. The architect described his idea with the term "inclusion": the exterior should be carried inside and the interior outside.
And the architect created a true masterpiece:
Two water channels lead directly into the building. The canals divide the building into three independent parts: There is the concert hall wing, the Lucerne hall wing and the congress and museum wing. In addition, there is a roof of the KKL that extends over the lake. The three buildings are constructed like ships in a shipyard.
The American acoustician Russell Johnson also participated in the construction of the concert hall. This was inaugurated with the start of the International Music Festival, which is now called the Lucerne Festival.
The concert hall is said to be one of the best in the world. This is of course mainly due to the acoustics. A lot of work has been done on this: There are rotating echo chamber gates, locks and ventilation systems and much more.
It offers 1840 seats. Mainly classical concerts take place here. It is located on the east side together with the Seebar. The Lucerne Hall is located in the middle part. On the station side is the congress center with the small hall.
Welcome in Lucerne;)
the culture and congress center of Lucerne
The oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe, connecting Old Town and New Town
A strong contrast to the new, futuristic congress and concert hall of Lucerne is another, at least equally well-known landmark of Lucerne: the Kapellbrücke. The Chapel Bridge is a medieval covered wooden bridge that runs over the river Reuss. The Chapel Bridge runs from the Lucerne Theater on the south bank of the Reuss River past the water tower to the St. Peterskapelle on the Rathausquai. The bridge thus connects the old and new towns, which are separated by the Reuss.
The bridge is one of the most important tourist attractions of the city. The water tower is in the middle. You can see the water tower on the last picture of this post.
Now I want to tell you something about the history of the bridge. The bridge was built in 1365. This makes it the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe. And not only that. It is more than two hundred metres long and thus also the second longest wooden bridge in Europe.
The water tower in the middle of the bridge is even older, it was built in 1300. The water tower used to function as a watchtower, but also as a treasury and dungeon. Today you can find a souvenir shop there.
The bridge became even more famous in 1993 than it was then. At that time, the bridge was partly destroyed by fire. The bridge was quickly rebuilt. However, the pictures that were destroyed with the bridge could not be restored. Because the bridge has a picture cycle. It originally consisted of 158 pictures, but 78 pictures were destroyed in the fire. The pictures show historical moments from the history of the city and also of Switzerland. However, a couple of paintings have survived, some of them are still charred.
How did you like the post office? And do you like the mix of old and new architecture as much as I do ? Which is your favourite, the bridge or the KKL in Lucerne? I think I find the KKL even more fascinating with its structure into three parts. Please write me your feedback in the comments. See you next time:)