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Lucerne City Guide

Swiss Cities
Basel
Bern
Geneva
Lausanne
Lucerne/Luzern
· Hotels
· Landmarks
· Festivals
· Concerts
· Theatre
· Museums
· History
· Population
· Traditions
· Events
· Excursions

· Downtown Tour
· Chapel Bridge
· Spreuer Bridge
· Musegg Wall
· Lion Monument
· Jesuit Church
· Hof Church
· Franciscan Church
· Paulus Church
· Bourbaki Panorama
· Wooden Houses

· Pius Church

St. Gallen
Winterthur
Zurich

Alpine Resorts
Bernese Oberland
Zermatt/Matterhorn

Swiss Tour
Chillon Castle
Rhine Falls

Lucerne/Luzern: Congress and Culture Center KKL

Lucerne's new Kultur- und Kongresszentrum (KKL)
[Culture and Congress Center] seen in early morning light

Sightseeing / Landmarks

Lucerne, Switzerland: Mount Rigi, Chapel Bridge, Watertower
Lucerne landmarks: Mount Rigi, Water Tower and Chapel Bridge in winter

Lucerne seen from Nölliturm
Wooden Spreuer Bridge and Jesuit Church seen from Nölliturm

Lion Monument

Musegg Wall with Nölliturm

Festivals

Classical Music	Jazz / Blues	Others
Lucerne Festival Easter Festival Summer Festival	Blue Balls Lucerne open air jazz festival impressions / pictures 2005 * www.jazzwillisau.ch Willisau Jazz festival (near Lucerne) * www.bluesfestival.ch Lucerne Blues Festival *	FUMETTO Comix Festival Rose d'or Festival for entertainment television programming
* websites in German language only

Concerts

Classical Music	Jazz / Blues	Pop / Rock
Lucerne Symphony Orchestra Festival Strings Lucerne KKL	Boa KKL	Schüür Sedel

Theatre / Opera

Luzerner Theater
(plays, musicals/operas, ballet)

Kleintheater Luzern
(satire, comedy, reading rehearsals)
KKL

When visiting Lucerne make sure you don't miss the two really outstanding collections of modern art by Angela Rosengart, a former arts dealer (Rosengart Collection and Picasso Museum) in downtown Lucerne. Both museums can be reached within five minutes walk from the central train station.

The Swiss Museum of Transport is the largest and most important technical museum in Switzerland. Besides, it hosts Hans Erni Haus. This collection of works by the post-war artist from Lucerne is a nice contrast to the technology exhibits.

Arts & Music	Nature
Lucerne's Art Museum (fourth largest in Switzerland, contemporary art) Rosengart Collection Over 200 paintings and drawings by Picasso, Klee, Léger, Miró Braque and other famous masters of the 19^th and 20^th centuries Picasso Museum Extraordinary collection of important works by Picasso from the last 20 years of his life Hans Erni Haus hosted by Verkehrshaus der Schweiz Richard Wagner-Museum Collection of ancient music instruments	Natur-Museum Glacier Garden Alpineum
	History
	Historisches Museum Bourbaki Panorama
	Technology
	Swiss Transport Museum (Verkehrshaus der Schweiz) One of Europe's largest technical museums: railways, automobiles, aircraft, spacecraft, ships, telecommunication, planetarium IMAX movie theatre

Population

How big is Lucerne?	Probably smaller than you think:
Resident Population	73,000 [2010]
Area	24 sq km [9.3 sq mi]
Population density	3022 inhabitants per sq km [7825 per sq mi]
· Native and naturalized Swiss	80.5 %
· Immigrants	19.5 %
Population in metropolitan area	230,000 [2002]
Which languages do they speak in Lucerne?
· official language	German only
· mother tongues	German 84.5 %
	Italian 2.7 %
	Serbo-Croatian 2.5 %
	Others (Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Albanese, French, Tamil, English, Japanese, ... ) 10.3 %
Many adults will be able to answer simple questions in English, however.

Local Traditions

Fasnacht [Carnival]
Lucerne is undoubtedly the center of carnival activities in Switzerland, the only serious rival being Basel.
Herbstmesse [parish fair]
once annual markets with a little entertainment, parish fairs in Swiss towns have become pure entertainment festivals dominated by all sorts of fun rides. Thus Lucerne's and Basel's Herbstmesse are quite interchangeable, the latter being just a bit larger.
Gansabhauet, Sursee
is an archaic tradition related to Martini [St. Martin's day, November 11th] in the little town of Sursee, 20 minutes north of Lucerne.

Events

Luzerner Stadtlauf (City Run): in June

Seenachtsfest [Summer Night Fireworks]: in August

Excursions

Mount Pilate
Mount Rigi

Steamboat cruises on Lake Lucerne
Pius Church

information Lucerne Tourist Office

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