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79-783: Born in Lucerne , the third of eight siblings, to a cabin cruiser engineer, he studied art at the Académie Julian in Paris and later in Berlin , and admired artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque . He is known for having illustrated postage stamps , his lithographs for the Swiss Red Cross , his participation on the Olympic Committee as well as his activism. His 1939 works and first major public success

158-458: A Fachhochschule ). As of 2000 there are 30,586 households, of which 15,452 households (or about 50.5%) contain only a single individual. 853 or about 2.8% are large households, with at least five members. As of 2000 there were 5,707 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 4,050 were built only as housing, and 1,657 were mixed use buildings. There were 1,152 single family homes, 348 double family homes, and 2,550 multi-family homes in

237-704: A congested condition in the Natural History , Industrial Arts , and Smithsonian Buildings". In 1924, architect Charles A. Platt drew up preliminary plans for a National Gallery of Art to be built on the block next to the Natural History Museum. However, this building was never constructed. In 1937, the National Gallery of Art became the National Collection of Fine Arts (NCFA), because Andrew Mellon insisted that

316-683: A factor until the late 1990s, when the work of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation and the opening of the MCI Center (now Capital One Arena) across the street from the museum sparked a revitalization of the neighborhood. The NCFA gained a new branch in 1972, opening the Renwick Gallery , dedicated to design and crafts, in a historic building near the White House . In 1980,

395-622: A fire on 18 August 1993, allegedly caused by a discarded cigarette. Partway across, the bridge runs by the octagonal Water Tower ( Wasserturm ), a fortification from the 13th century. Inside the bridge are a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Lucerne's history. Downriver, between the Kasernenplatz and the Mühlenplatz, the Spreuer Bridge ( Spreuerbrücke or Mühlenbrücke , Mill Bridge) zigzags across

474-698: A member of the State Council of Lucerne criticized that Erni was deemed as a communist . However, Erni was never a member of any political party. In 2004, he was awarded the honorary citizenship of the city of Lucerne . On 10 January 2009 he received the SwissAward for lifetime accomplishment. In his career, he realized about 300 posters and several murals — including for the 1980 Salon international de l'automobile , Red Cross , IOC , United Nations and ICAO . He illustrated about 200 books and created 90 postage stamps and 25 medals . Erni

553-578: A peasant army and quickly signed a peace treaty with the rebels in the Swiss peasant war of 1653 . In 1798, nine years after the beginning of the French Revolution , the French army marched into Switzerland. The Old Swiss Confederacy collapsed and the government became democratic. The Industrial Revolution hit Lucerne rather late, and by 1860 only 1.7% of the population worked in industry, which

632-626: A strong member of the Swiss confederacy. The city developed its infrastructure, raised taxes, and appointed its own local officials. The city's population of 3000 dropped about 40% due to the Black Plague and several wars around 1350. In 1419 town records show the first witch trial against a male person. Among the growing towns of the confederacy, Lucerne was especially popular in attracting new residents. Remaining predominantly Catholic, Lucerne hosted its own annual passion play from 1453 to 1616,

711-500: A system of Majorz . The mayor is elected as such as well by public election while the heads of the other directorates are assigned by the collegiate. As of September 2020 , Luzern's City Council is made up of one representative of the SP ( Social Democratic Party , who is also the mayor), and one each of CVP ( Christian Democratic Party ), GPS ( Green Party ), FDP ( FDP.The Liberals ), and glp ( Green Liberal Party ). The last regular election

790-801: A two-day-long play of 12 hours performance per day. As the confederacy broke up during the Reformation , after 1520, most nearby cities became Protestant, but Lucerne remained Catholic. After the victory of the Catholics over the Protestants in the Battle at Kappel in 1531, the Catholic towns dominated the confederacy. It was during this period that Jesuits first came to Lucerne in 1567, with their arrival given considerable backing by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo , Archbishop of Milan . The region, though,

869-635: Is Artful Connections , which gives real-time video conference tours of American Art. In addition, the museum offers the Summer Institutes: Teaching the Humanities through Art, week-long professional development workshops that introduce educators to methods for incorporating American art and technology into their humanities curricula. American Art has seven online research databases, which has more than 500,000 records of artworks in public and private collections worldwide, including

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948-792: Is twinned with the following towns: Lucerne has a population (as of 31 December 2021) of 82,771 As of 2021, 20,508 or 24.78% of the population was made up of foreign nationals, of which 18.22% are from Europe , 3.63% from Asia , 1.85% from Africa and 0.97% from America . Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.2%. Most of the population (as of 2020) speak German (83.26%), with English with 7.45%, as well as Italian (5.06%) and Serbo-Croatian (3.80%) being respectively second, third and fourth most common first languages reported. Following, there are Portuguese (2.81%), Spanish (2.53%), Albanian (2.25%) and French (2.11%) language speakers. The age distribution in Lucerne

1027-526: Is (as of 2013 ); 12,916 people or 15.7% of the population is 0–19 years old. 26,381 people or 33.8% are 20–39 years old, and 25,863 people or 32.1% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 10,530 people or 13.1% are 65–79 years old, 4,208 or 5.2% are 80–89 years old and 900 people or 1.1% of the population are 90+ years old. In Lucerne about 73.6% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or

1106-648: Is a city in central Switzerland , in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the district of the same name. With a population of approximately 82,000 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland , and a nexus of economics, transportation, culture, and media in the region. The city's urban area consists of 19 municipalities and towns with an overall population of about 220,000 people. Owing to its location on

1185-537: Is presided by Stadtpräsident Beat Züsli . Departmental tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the Grand City Council are carried by the City Council. The regular election of the City Council by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years. Any resident of Lucerne allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the City Council. The delegates are selected by means of

1264-585: The National Portrait Gallery ), while craft-focused exhibitions are shown in the Renwick Gallery . The museum provides electronic resources to schools and the public through its national education program. It maintains seven online research databases with more than 500,000 records, including the Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture that document more than 400,000 artworks in public and private collections worldwide. Since 1951,

1343-1245: The Smithsonian American Art Museum , the Rose Art Museum , the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco , the Minneapolis Institute of Art , the University of Michigan Museum of Art , the Dallas Museum of Art , the Brooklyn Museum , the Ackland Art Museum , the Harvard Art Museums , the Hammer Museum , and the Cleveland Museum of Art . Lucerne Lucerne ( English: / l uː ˈ s ɜːr n / loo- SURN ) or Luzern ( Swiss Standard German: [luˈtsɛrn] )

1422-620: The Smithsonian Institution . Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery , SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States . More than 7,000 artists are represented in the museum's collection. Most exhibitions are held in the museum's main building, the Old Patent Office Building (shared with

1501-411: The executive government of the city of Lucerne and operates as a collegiate authority . It is composed of five councilors ( German : Stadtrat/-rätin ), each presiding over a directorate ( Direktion ) comprising several departments and bureaus. The president of the executive department acts as mayor ( Stadtpräsident ). In the mandate period ( Legislatur ) September 2020 – August 2024 the City Council

1580-708: The jg of Luzern , and 4 Green Liberal Party (GLP/PVL) . In the 2019 federal election for the Swiss National Council the most popular party was the PS which received 25.0% (-0.7) of the vote. The next five most popular parties were the Green Party (20.8%, +7.4), the SVP (15.0%, -4.6), the CVP (14.1%, 0), FDP (13.0%, -2.5), the glp (10.5%, +1.8). In the federal election a total of 25,836 votes were cast, and

1659-592: The voter turnout was 49.5%. In the 2015 election for the Swiss National Council the most popular party was the SP which received 25.8% of the vote. The next five most popular parties were the SVP (19.5%), the FDP (15.4%), the CVP (14.1%), the GPS (13.3%), and the GLP (8.9%). In the federal election, a total of 26,521 voters were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.48%. Lucerne

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1738-708: The 1948 Summer Olympics' painting competitions . Between 1950 and 1952 he participated to exhibitions in Latin America . However, his participation in the Biennale of São Paulo was not authorized by Federal Councillor Philipp Etter . After a stay in Mauritania and Guinea he painted African topics. In 1960 he organized with Alfred Pauletto, Celestino Piatti , Hugo Wetli and Kurt Wirth an exhibition in Olten about graphic design and painting. He participated to

1817-931: The 1964 Documenta exhibition in Kassel , in the graphic design department. On 15 September 1979 the Swiss Museum of Transport opened a large personal collection of Erni's works. He realized a 30 meter long mural for the Museum. Erni was very interested in sport and received the United States Sports Academy award of sport artist of the year in 1989. In 1993 his works were exhibited at the Pence Gallery in San Francisco . He celebrated his 100th birthday in 2009. His sister, Maria Strebi-Erni (January 14, 1907 – January 29, 2014), died at

1896-463: The 2000s renovation, a "series of exhibitions of more than 1,000 major artworks from American Art's permanent collection traveled to 105 venues across the United States," which were "seen by more than 2.5 million visitors". Since 2006, thirteen exhibitions have toured to more than 30 cities. SAAM provides electronic resources to schools and the public as part of education programs. An example

1975-401: The 4th place with an only marginally 2% higher tax rate compared to the top canton in this comparison. One of the first export oriented branches was the production of scythes from the 14th century onwards. Lucerne imported iron and steel and the cities blacksmiths produced scythes which were exported to western Switzerland and northern Italy. The workshops of the blacksmiths were located in

2054-400: The City Council and the administration. The delegates are selected by means of a system of proportional representation . The sessions of the Grand City Council are public. Unlike members of the City Council, members of the Grand City Council are not politicians by profession, and they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Luzern allowed to vote can be elected as a member of

2133-757: The Grand City Council. The parliament holds its meetings in the Rathaus (Town Hall) am Kornmarkt. The last regular election of the Grand City Council was held on 29 March 2020 for the mandate period ( German : Legislatur ) from September 2020 to August 2024. Currently the Grand City Council consist of 13 members of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS) and one of its junior section, the JUSO , 9 The Liberals (FDP/PLR) , 7 Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC) , 7 Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) , 6 Green Party (GPS/PES) and one of its junior section,

2212-641: The Grand Salon. Part of the Smithsonian Institution , the museum has a broad variety of American art, with more than 7,000 artists represented, that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States. SAAM contains the world's largest collection of New Deal art; a collection of contemporary craft, American impressionist paintings, and masterpieces from the Gilded Age ; photography, modern folk art, works by African American and Latino artists, images of western expansion, and realist art from

2291-491: The Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture. Numerous researchers and millions of virtual visitors per year use these databases. Also, American Art and Heritage Preservation work together in a joint project, Save Outdoor Sculpture, "dedicated to the documentation and preservation of outdoor sculpture". The museum produces a peer-reviewed periodical, American Art (started in 1987), for new scholarship. Since 1993, American Art has been had an online presence. It has one of

2370-570: The NCFA occupying the northern half of the building. Renovation work on the building began in 1964. The NCFA opened in its new home on May 6, 1968. The museum's relocation came at an unfortunate time, as the neighborhood had been devastated a month earlier by the Martin Luther King assassination riots . The NCFA struggled to attract visitors over the following decades, as the streets around it remained bleak and lonely. This would remain

2449-653: The National Portrait Gallery reopened their combined building, renamed as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, on July 1, 2006. The Smithsonian American Art Museum shares the historic Old Patent Office building with the National Portrait Gallery , another Smithsonian museum. Although the two museums' names have not changed, they are collectively known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture . Also under

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2528-616: The Patent Office Building. To keep the museum's collection accessible to the public during the closure, many of the artworks were sent out in a "Treasures to Go" series of traveling exhibitions, billed as "the largest museum tour in history". The museum's name was changed to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in October 2000 so that the museum and its traveling exhibitions could benefit from

2607-471: The Reuss. Constructed in 1408, it features a series of medieval-style 17th century plague paintings by Kaspar Meglinger ( de ) titled Dance of Death ( Totentanzzyklus ). The bridge has a small chapel in the middle that was added in 1568. Old Town Lucerne is mainly located just north of the Reuss, and still has several fine half-timber structures with painted fronts. Remnants of the old town walls exist on

2686-595: The Schweizerhof Hotel (1845), Grand Hotel National (1870), and Château Gütsch (1879). It was at the National that Swiss hotelier César Ritz would establish himself as manager between 1878 and 1888. In August 1993, the Kapellbrücke in the centre of the city suffered from a great fire which destroyed two thirds of its interior paintings. The bridge was subsequently reconstructed and reopened to

2765-479: The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery work in the Lunder Center. The museum has put on hundreds of exhibitions since its founding. Many exhibitions are groundbreaking and promote new scholarship within the field of American art. What follows is a brief list of selected, and more recent, examples: The museum has maintained a traveling exhibition program since 1951. During

2844-682: The Smithsonian buildings grew, and the collection was housed in one or more Smithsonian buildings on the National Mall. In 1920, the National Gallery of Art was separated from the National Museum, becoming its own branch of the Smithsonian, with William Henry Holmes as its first director. By this time, space had become critical: "Collections to the value of several millions of dollars are in storage or temporarily on exhibition and are crowding out important exhibits and producing

2923-533: The Smithsonian's brand recognition. After renovations were underway, the plans were broadened in an effort to restore much of the building's original elegance. Many of the building's exceptional architectural features were restored: porticos modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, a curving double staircase, colonnades, vaulted galleries, large windows, and skylights as long as a city block. New features added to

3002-610: The age of 107. Erni died on March 21, 2015, aged 106. His first wife, Gertrud Bohnert , had died in a horse-riding accident. They had one daughter, artist Simone Fornara Erni. With his second wife, Doris, he had a son and two daughters. Apart from the Swiss Museum of Transport, his work is held in several other museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art , the American Sport Art Museum and Archives ,

3081-573: The auspices of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Renwick Gallery is a smaller, historic building on Pennsylvania Avenue across the street from the White House . The building originally housed the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art . In addition to displaying a large collection of American contemporary craft, several hundred paintings from the museum's permanent collection — hung salon style: one-atop-another and side-by-side — are featured in special installations in

3160-445: The building included the Lunder Conservation Center, the Luce Foundation Center for American Art, Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium, and the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. Meanwhile, the museum's offices, library, and storage were moved to the nearby Victor Building, freeing up valuable space and allowing the museum to display four times as many artworks as before. The renovation ultimately took six years and $ 283 million. The museum and

3239-431: The city and its environs in his travel writings after visiting twice, in 1878 and 1897. In 1892 Swiss poet and future Nobel laureate Carl Spitteler also established himself in Lucerne, living there until his death in 1924. Lucerne's status as a fashionable destination led to it becoming one of the first centres of modern-style tourism. Some of the city's most recognisable buildings are hotels from this period, such as

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3318-531: The collection. The Lunder Conservation Center is "the first art conservation facility to allow the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of the preservation work of museums". The Luce Foundation Center, which opened in July 2000, is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington, D.C., and the fourth center to bear the Luce Family name. It has 20,400 square feet on the third and fourth floors of American Art Museum. It presents more than 3,300 objects in 64 secure glass cases, which quadruples

3397-406: The earliest museum websites when, in 1995, it launched its own website. EyeLevel, the first blog at the Smithsonian Institution, was started in 2005 and, as of 2013, the blog "has approximately 12,000 readers each month". In 2006, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi designed the conservators' denim work aprons. In 2008, the American Art Museum hosted an alternate reality game , called Ghosts of

3476-404: The extraordinary creativity of artists whose works reflect the American experience and global connections." The American Art's main building contains expanded permanent-collection galleries and public spaces. The museum has two innovative public spaces. The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is a visible art storage and study center, which allows visitors to browse more than 3,300 works of

3555-859: The first floor. The center has John Gellatly's European collection of decorative arts. The Lunder Conservation Center, which opened in July 2006, is the first art conservation facility that allows the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of preservation work. Conservation staff are visible to the public through floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow visitors to see firsthand all the techniques which conservators use to examine, treat, and preserve artworks. The Lunder Center has five conservation laboratories and studios equipped to treat paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, folk art objects, contemporary crafts, decorative arts, and frames. The Center uses various specialized and esoteric tools, such as hygrothermographs , to maintain optimal temperature and humidity to preserve works of art. Staff from both

3634-559: The first half of the twentieth century. Among the significant artists represented in its collection are Nam June Paik , Jenny Holzer , David Hockney , Richard Hunt , Georgia O'Keeffe , Ching Ho Cheng , John Singer Sargent , Albert Pinkham Ryder , Albert Bierstadt , Frances Farrand Dodge , Edmonia Lewis , Thomas Moran , James Gill , Edward Hopper , John William "Uncle Jack" Dey , Karen LaMonte and Winslow Homer . SAAM describes itself as being "dedicated to collecting, understanding, and enjoying American art. The museum celebrates

3713-413: The following decades. In 1896, the artworks were brought back to the Smithsonian, after Congress appropriated money to construct a fireproof room for them. The Smithsonian began to refer to its art collection as the National Gallery of Art in 1906, in connection with efforts to receive Harriet Lane Johnston 's art collection, which she had bequeathed to the "national art gallery". The collection grew as

3792-494: The help of these additions, the rule of Austria over the area came to an end. The issue was settled by Lucerne's victory over the Habsburgs in the Battle of Sempach in 1386. For Lucerne this victory ignited an era of expansion. The city shortly granted many rights to itself, rights which had been withheld by the Habsburgs until then. By this time the borders of Lucerne were approximately those of today. In 1415 Lucerne gained Reichsfreiheit from Emperor Sigismund and became

3871-407: The hill above Lucerne, complete with eight tall watch towers. An additional gated tower sits at the base of the hill on the banks of the Reuss . The twin needle towers of the Church of St. Leodegar , which was named after the city's patron saint, sit on a small hill just above the lake front. Originally built in 735, the present structure was erected in 1633 in the late Renaissance style. However,

3950-470: The jurisdiction of Murbach Abbey, and the founding of the city proper probably occurred that same year. The city gained importance as a strategically located gateway for the growing commerce from the Gotthard trade route. By 1290, Lucerne had become a self-sufficient city of reasonable size with about 3000 inhabitants. About this time King Rudolph I von Habsburg gained authority over the Monastery of St. Leodegar and its lands, including Lucerne. The populace

4029-400: The main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Lucerne German . After the fall of the Roman Empire beginning in the 6th century, Germanic Alemannic peoples increased their influence on this area of present-day Switzerland. Around 750 the Benedictine Monastery of St. Leodegar was founded, which was later acquired by Murbach Abbey in Alsace in

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4108-512: The middle of the 9th century, and by this time the area had become known as Luciaria . The origin of the name is uncertain, it is possibly derived from the Latin name of the pike , lucius , thus designating a pike fishing spot in the river Reuss. Derivation from the theonym Lugus has been suggested but is phonetically implausible. In any case, the name was associated by popular etymology with Latin lucerna 'lantern' from an early time. In 1178 Lucerne acquired its independence from

4187-399: The municipality is entirely surrounded by the lake and by land of the canton of Nidwalden . It does not contain any significant settlements, but the summit of the Bürgenstock is the highest point of the municipality. The municipality has an area of 29.1 square kilometers (11.2 sq mi). Of this area and as of 2009 , 28.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 22.3% is forested. Of

4266-402: The municipality. Most homes were either two (787) or three (1,468) story structures. There were only 74 single story buildings and 1,721 four or more story buildings. The historical population of Lucerne is given in the following table: The city grew up around Sankt Leodegar Abbey, founded in AD 840, and remained strongly Roman Catholic into the 21st century. By 1850, 96.9% of the population

4345-494: The museum has maintained a traveling exhibition program; as of 2013, more than 2.5 million visitors have seen the exhibitions. In 2022 the museum received 1,100,000 visitors, ranking it seventh in the List of most-visited museums in the United States . The museum's history can be traced to the creation of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846. The act of Congress establishing the Smithsonian called for it to include "a gallery of art". In its early years, however, little effort

4424-402: The name was changed to the National Museum of American Art, to better distinguish it from other federal art museums and to emphasize its focus on American artists. From 1982 to 1988, Charles C. Eldredge served as the museum director, followed by the tenures of Elizabeth Broun and Stephanie Stebich . In January 2000, the museum closed to begin a planned three-year, $ 60-million renovation of

4503-405: The number of artworks from the permanent collection on public view. The purpose of open storage is to allow patrons to view various niche art that is usually not part of a main exhibition or gala special. The Luce Foundation Center features paintings densely hung on screens; sculptures; crafts and objects by folk and self-taught artists arranged on shelves. Large-scale sculptures are installed on

4582-418: The outfall. The city's suburbs climb the hills to the north-east and south-west, and stretch out along the river and lake banks, whilst the recently added area of Littau is to the north-west. Besides this contiguous city area, the municipality also includes an exclave on the south shore of Lake Lucerne some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) away, comprising the northern slopes of the Bürgenstock . This section of

4661-433: The outskirts of the city due to fire concerns. The workshops at the Krienbach creek included hammers moved by watermills. Since the city straddles the Reuss where it drains the lake, it has a number of bridges. These include the Chapel Bridge ( Kapellbrücke ), a 204 m (669 ft) long wooden covered bridge originally built in 1333, the oldest covered bridge in Europe , although much of it had to be replaced after

4740-424: The population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, women made up 47.9% of the workforce. Lucerne is home to a number of major Swiss companies, including AlpTransit Gotthard rail link , Schindler Group , Chronoswiss , Emmi , and the Luzerner Kantonalbank . Suva , one of Switzerland's oldest accident insurance companies, is also based in Lucerne, as is the University of Lucerne ,

4819-433: The previous moniker be given to a new institution formed through his donation of a large art collection. By the 1950s, the NCFA still occupied a small space in the Natural History Building. In 1958, Congress finally granted the NCFA a home, the Old Patent Office Building , which was about to be vacated by the U.S. Civil Service Commission . The building would be shared with the planned National Portrait Gallery, with

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4898-438: The public in April 1994, after a total of CHF 3.4 million was spent on its repair. On June 17, 2007, voters of the city of Lucerne and the adjacent town of Littau agreed to a merger in a simultaneous referendum . This took effect on January 1, 2010. The new city, still called Lucerne, has a population of around 80,000 people, making it the seventh-largest city in Switzerland. The results of this referendum are expected to pave

4977-431: The question. As of  2012 , there were a total of 77,641 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 166 people worked in 53 businesses in the primary economic sector . The secondary sector employed 7,326 workers in 666 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 70,149 jobs in 6,929 businesses. In 2013 a total of 11.0% of the population received social assistance. As of 2000 51.7% of

5056-426: The rest of the land, 47.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Between 1961 and 1990 Lucerne had an average of 138.1 days of rain per year and on average received 1,171 mm (46.1 in) of precipitation . The wettest month was June during which time Lucerne received an average of 153 mm (6.0 in) of rainfall. During this month there

5135-401: The shores of Lake Lucerne ( German : Vierwaldstättersee ) and its outflow, the river Reuss , within sight of the mounts Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps , Lucerne has long been a destination for tourists. One of the city's landmarks is the Chapel Bridge (German: Kapellbrücke ), a wooden bridge first erected in the 14th century. The official language of Lucerne is German , but

5214-428: The south in 1897. The 1804 play William Tell by Friedrich Schiller did much to establish the reputation of Lucerne and its environs. Schiller himself had not been to Lucerne, but was inspired to write the play by his wife Lotte and his friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who had both personally visited the city and its surrounding canton. Goethe had lodged in the Hirschenplatz on his route to Italy in 1779. It

5293-412: The towers are surviving remnants of an earlier structure. The interior is richly decorated. The church is popularly called the Hofkirche (in German) and is known locally as the Hofchile (in Swiss-German). Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM , and formerly the National Museum of American Art ) is a museum in Washington, D.C. , part of

5372-404: The way for negotiations with other nearby cities and towns in an effort to create a unified city-region, based on the results of a study. Lucerne is located at the outfall of Lake Lucerne into the river Reuss , which flows from south-east to north-west. The city occupies both banks of the river and the lowest reach of the lake, with the city centre straddling the river immediately downstream of

5451-476: The youngest of Switzerland's traditional universities. An international company is the EF Education First . Thanks to its continuous tax-cutting policies, Lucerne has become Switzerland's most business-friendly canton. As of 2012 Lucerne offers Switzerland's lowest corporate tax rate at cantonal level. Furthermore, Lucerne also offers very moderate personal income tax rates. In a recent published study of BAK Basel Economics taxation index 2012, Lucerne made it to

5530-532: Was Catholic, in 1900 it was 81.9% and in 1950 it was still 72.3%. In the 2000 census the religious membership of Lucerne was: 35,682 (60%) Roman Catholic, 9,227 (15.5%) Protestant, with an additional 1,979 (3.33%) who were of some other Christian denominations; 1,824 individuals (3.07% of the population) Muslim; 196 individuals (0.33% of the population) Jewish. Of the remainder, 1,073 (1.8%) individuals were another religion; 6,310 (10.61%) stated they do not belong to any organized religion; and 3,205 (5.39%) did not answer

5609-452: Was a mural titled Switzerland: "Vacation Land of the People" was commissioned and displayed for the national exhibition in Zürich . The Hans Erni Museum, situated in the grounds of the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne , contains a large collection of artwork, he also designed ceramics and theatre costumes and sets. He did the art for Swiss bank notes, in the 1940s but, after the notes were already printed they were never published, because

5688-425: Was about a quarter of the national average at that time. Agriculture , which employed about 40% of the workers, was the main form of economic output in the canton. Nevertheless, industry was attracted to the city from areas around Lucerne. From 1850 to 1913, the population quadrupled and the flow of settlers increased. In 1856 trains first linked the city to Olten and Basel, then Zug and Zürich in 1864 and finally to

5767-548: Was commissioned by the Lucerne Museum Fine Arts to organize an exhibit about Pablo Picasso . The Spanish artist remained grateful for that opportunity to show his art in Switzerland. In 1936 Erni started to work with abstract art . From 1940 to 1945 he was a soldier in the Swiss army and was engaged as a camouflage painter because of his experience with large-size murals. In 1948, he was a competitor in

5846-399: Was destined to be dominated by Protestant cities such as Zürich, Bern and Basel , which defeated the Catholic forces in the 1712 Toggenburg War . The former prominent position of Lucerne in the confederacy was lost forever. In the 16th and 17th centuries, wars and epidemics became steadily less frequent and as a result the population of the country increased strongly. Lucerne was besieged by

5925-519: Was during the latter part of the 19th century that Lucerne became a popular destination for artists, royalty and others to escape to. The German composer Richard Wagner established a residence at Tribschen in 1866, where he lived and worked. The city was then boosted by a visit by Queen Victoria to the city in 1868, during which she went sightseeing at the Kapellbrücke and Lion Monument and relished speaking with local people in her native German. The American writer Mark Twain further popularised

6004-499: Was held on 29 March/28 June 2020. All members have been re-elected, though two of them (Bitz Staub and Jost) only with the second round. Michèle Bucher (FDP) is Town Chronicler ( Stadtschreiberin ) since 2020. The Grosse Stadtrat of Luzern for the mandate period of 2020-2024 The Grand City Council ( Grosser Stadtrat ) holds legislative power . It is made up of 48 members, with elections held every four years. The Grand City Council decrees regulations and by-laws that are executed by

6083-466: Was not content with the increasing Habsburg influence, and Lucerne allied with neighboring towns to seek independence from their rule. Along with Lucerne, the three other forest cantons of Uri , Schwyz and Unterwalden formed the "eternal" Swiss Confederacy , known as the Eidgenossenschaft , on November 7, 1332. Later the cities of Zürich , Zug and Bern joined the alliance. With

6162-506: Was put into developing the art collection, as Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry preferred to focus on scientific research. The collection was first on display in the original Smithsonian Building (now known as the Castle). In 1865, a fire destroyed much of the collection. Those art holdings that survived were mostly loaned to the Library of Congress and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in

6241-434: Was rainfall for an average of 14.2 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of 61 mm (2.4 in) of precipitation over 10.2 days. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate ). The City Council ( Stadtrat ) constitutes

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