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46-642: It makes a loop around the Urnersee , the southern arm of Lake Lucerne . The trail starts at the Rütli : the meadow where, according to tradition, the oath of allegiance forming the original Swiss Confederacy was taken in 1291. It then passes through Bauen, Flüelen , Sisikon (location of the Tellskapelle ) and Morschach , finishing at Brunnen . The total length is around 35 km (22 mi), taking 2 or 3 days to complete. Uniquely, each canton received

92-414: A Fachhochschule ). Altdorf has an unemployment rate of 1.45%. As of 2005 , there were 137 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 49 businesses involved in this sector. 1,748 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 77 businesses in this sector. 3,585 people are employed in the tertiary sector , with 403 businesses in this sector. source: According to

138-499: A boathouse and buoy field on Churchill-Quai in Lucerne. The Brunnen water sports club (Wassersportclub Brunnen), founded in 1958, held on Lake Lucerne in the first years of its existence international motorboat races and water ski championships. In 1965 the association chose a new name for the club: Lake Lucerne Water Sports Club (Wassersport-Club Vierwaldstättersee). The Central Switzerland Motorboat Club (Motorbootclub Zentralschweiz)

184-524: A dumping ground for old munitions, with an estimated 3,300 tonnes of munitions currently submerged in the lake. The Swiss Defence Department has offered a prize of 50,000 francs (£45,000) for the best proposal to safely remove the munitions. Altdorf, Uri Altdorf is a municipality in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Swiss canton of Uri and retains historic town privileges . It

230-463: A flat alluvial plain between the right bank of the river Reuss and the steep hillside of the Rossstock 2.4 km (1.5 mi) to the east. The scattered hamlets and pastureland of Eggbergen , about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above the town, also belong to the municipality. Of Altdorf's total area, about 36% is used for agricultural purposes (predominately for orchards or vineyards), 37–39%

276-984: A four-arm cross, called the Chrütztrichter (Cross Funnel). Here converge the Vitznauer Bucht with the Küssnachtersee from the north, the Luzernersee from the west, and the Horwer Bucht and the Stanser Trichter to the south, which is to be found right below the northeast side of the Pilatus and the west side of the Bürgenstock. At the very narrow pass between the east dropper of the Pilatus (called Lopper ) and Stansstad

322-670: A height of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft (910 to 1,220 m) above the water. The two highest summits are the Fronalpstock and the Rophaien (2078 m). Between them the steep glen or ravine of the Riemenstaldener Tal descends to Sisikon , the only village with Flüelen right on the shore on that side of the Urnersee. On the opposite or western shore, the mountains attain still greater dimensions. The Niederbauen Chulm

368-644: A portion of the trail to design, proportional to its population in 1991. The cantons' sections appear on the trail in the order in which they joined the Swiss confederation. This Switzerland -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lake Lucerne Lake Lucerne ( German : Vierwaldstättersee , literally 'Lake of the four forested settlements ' (in English usually translated as forest cantons ), French : lac des Quatre-Cantons , Italian : lago dei Quattro Cantoni )

414-516: Is 11.8 km . Much of the shoreline rises steeply into mountains up to 1,500 m above the lake, resulting in many picturesque views including those of the mountains Rigi and Pilatus. The Reuss enters the lake at Flüelen, in the part called Urnersee ( Lake of Uri , in the canton of Uri ) and exits at Lucerne. The lake also receives the Muota at Brunnen, the Engelberger Aa at Buochs , and

460-475: Is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country. The lake has a complicated shape, with several sharp bends and four arms. It starts in the south–north bound Reuss Valley between steep cliffs above the Urnersee from Flüelen towards Brunnen to the north before it makes a sharp bend to the west where it continues into the Gersauer Becken . Here is also the deepest point of

506-522: Is divided into the cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden ), as well as the canton of Lucerne , thus the name Vierwaldstättersee (lit.: Lake of the Four Forested Settlements). Many of the oldest communities of Switzerland are along the shore, including Küssnacht , Weggis , Vitznau , Gersau , Brunnen , Altdorf , Buochs , and Treib . Lake Lucerne is singularly irregular and appears to lie in four different valleys, all related to

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552-438: Is exhibited here, and they sometimes have exhibitions of earlier historical art. Between 1961 and 1990 Altdorf had an average of 133.7 days of rain per year and on average received 1,099 mm (43.3 in) of precipitation. The wettest month was August during which time Altdorf received an average of 135 mm (5.3 in) of precipitation. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 13.2 days. The month with

598-628: Is forested, 23% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder is rivers, glaciers, or mountains. Altdorf adjoins the municipalities of Attinghausen and Seedorf across the Reuss to the west, Flüelen , the port village at the Urnersee to the north, Bürglen in the Schächental to the east and south, and Schattdorf to the south. The earliest evidence of a settlement in Altdorf are several La Tène era bronze ax-heads and iron tools from

644-474: Is rather chilly all year round and therefore mostly very clear. In Lake Uri, at Sisikon, one can dive to a fragmented steep vertical wall, at the northern portal of the Schieferneggtunnel. The Lediwrack Bruno lies in front of Brunnen at a depth of 15 meters. Other well-known diving spots are in front of Vitznau, Weggis, Gersau and Hergiswil. The Swiss Armed Forces historically used Lake Lucerne as

690-589: Is served by the regional public transport hub of Altdorf railway station , situated within the municipality and on the Gotthard railway . In 1899 a carriage-road was opened from Altdorf through the Schächental and over the Klausen Pass (1,948 metres (6,391 ft)) to the village of Linthal (46 kilometres (29 mi)) and so to Glarus . In 1906, the Altdorf–Flüelen tramway was constructed to connect

736-779: Is succeeded by the Oberbauenstock , and farther south, above the ridge of the Scharti, appear the snowy peaks of the Gitschen and the Uri Rotstock (2,928 m). In the centre opens the Reuss Valley, backed by the rugged summits of the Urner and Glarner Alps . The breadth of these various sections of the lake is very variable, but is usually between one and two miles (3 km). The lake's surface, whose mean height above

782-468: Is the Dammastock at 3,630 metres above sea level. The name of Vierwaldstättersee is first used in the 16th century. Before the 16th century, the entire lake was known as Luzerner See "Lake Lucerne", as remains the English (and partly Italian, as Lago di Lucerna ) usage. The (three) " Waldstätte(n) " (lit.: "forested sites/settlements", in English usually translated as forest cantons ) since

828-450: Is the place where, according to the legend, William Tell shot the apple from his son's head. Altdorf is situated on the right (eastern) bank of the Reuss , about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of where the river discharges into the Urnersee, an arm of Lake Lucerne . It is at the junction of two major Alpine passes— Saint Gotthard to the south and the Klausen Pass to the east—and is

874-846: The Sarner Aa at Alpnachstad. It is possible to circumnavigate the lake by train and road, though the railway route circumvents the lake even on the north side of the Rigi via Arth-Goldau . Since 1980, the A2 motorway leads through the Seelisberg Tunnel in order to reach the route to the Gotthard Pass in just half an hour in Altdorf, Uri right south of the beginning of the lake in Flüelen. Steamers and other passenger boats ply between

920-488: The 14th century were the confederate allies of Uri , Schwyz and Unterwalden . The notion of "Four Waldstätten" ( Vier Waldstätten ), with the addition of the canton of Lucerne , is first recorded in the 1450s, in an addition to the "Silver Book" of Egloff Etterlin of Lucerne. The nine different parts of the lake have individual designations: The lake is navigable, and has formed an important part of Switzerland's transport system for many centuries, and at least since

966-481: The 3rd century BCE. The people that settled in this region initially settled in the forest, and expanded toward the banks of the Reuss. When the Reuss periodically flooded, the low lying settlements were destroyed and the inhabitants were driven back to the "old town", a possible source of the name Altdorf. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire the local Gallo-Roman population of Altdorf began to mix with

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1012-589: The Alps. Lake Lucerne has twice been used as a venue for the European Rowing Championships : in 1908 and then in 1926 . The nearby Rotsee has since 1933 been used for rowing regattas instead. On the way south, the English discovered the mountains of central Switzerland. Several spa and bathing resorts such as Weggis or Gersau were created. In 1871, the very first rack railway in Europe,

1058-837: The Bürgenstock, the Stanserhorn , the Buochserhorn, and the two legends, the Urirotstock and the Fronalpstock are attractive panoramic mountains near Lake Lucerne. Most of them can be reached by mountain railways, some of which have their valley station near boat stations on the lake. There are numerous locations on the lake that are important in Swiss cultural and tourism history: Rütli, Tellsplatte, Tell Chapel, Carving Tower of Stansstad, Neu-Habsburg, Schillerstein, Treib, Astrid Chapel (Küssnacht) and Meggenhorn Castle. Different sports are possible in some separate areas due to

1104-490: The Germanic Alamanni during the 7th century. The earliest evidence of this is the grave of an armed horseman (dated to 670–680) located in the local St Martin's Church. The current town was first mentioned in 1223 as Alttorf , whereas some sources from the 16th to 19th centuries occasionally refer to it as Uri . Altdorf has a population (as of 31 December 2020) of 9,565. As of 2017, 1,347 people or 14.8% of

1150-655: The Vitznau-Rigi Railway, was opened. In 1889 the steepest cog railway in the world was built from Alpnachstad to Mount Pilatus . Mark Twain described an ascent to the Rigi, which led to the blossoming of Swiss tourism in the United States in the 19th century. One of the largest steamship fleets in Europe operates with five steamships on Lake Lucerne. In the area surrounding the lake and on terraces at medium height (for example Morschach and Seelisberg) there are numerous places for tourists. The Rigi, Pilatus,

1196-466: The artist's father Alois Muller, his uncle Domherr Josef Muller, and a large allegorical work Alpenrose und Edelweiss . The museum was extended in the 1990s. Recently the town has established the Haus für Kunst Uri at Herrengasse 2 in a partly converted historic house with a large contemporary extension creating an attractive exhibition space. The work of Swiss and international contemporary artists from Uri

1242-612: The centre of the town that houses a collection of local antiquities, weapons and regional furniture, as well as a collection of portraits of important Uri citizens, including fine ones by the Andermatt-born Felix Maria Diogg (1762–1834). There are several paintings here by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) whose family came from Hospental , including portraits of Pope Pius X , Pope Pius XI , Cardinal Merry del Val,

1288-478: The conformation of the adjoining mountains. The central portion of the lake lies in two parallel valleys whose direction is from west to east, the one lying north, the other south of the ridge of the Bürgenstock . These are connected through a narrow strait, scarcely one kilometre wide, between the two rocky promontories called respectively Unter Nas and Ober Nas (Lower and Upper Nose). It is not unlikely that

1334-455: The country's 700th anniversary in 1991. Archaeologists surveying the lake-bed (during the construction of a pipeline) from 2019 to 2021 found the remains of a Bronze Age village with artifacts dating to around 1000 BC. Later, the new findings indicated that the area was settled 2,000 years earlier than historians previously thought. Lake Lucerne borders on the three original Swiss cantons of Uri , Schwyz , and Unterwalden (which today

1380-589: The different villages and towns on the lake. It is a popular tourist destination, both for native Swiss and foreigners, and there are many hotels and resorts along the shores. In addition, the meadow of the Rütli , traditional site of the founding of the Swiss Confederation , is on the Urnersee shore. A 35 km commemorative walkway, the Swiss Path , was built around the Lake of Uri to celebrate

1426-442: The gravel dredging industry that operates on the lake, using large dredgers to obtain sand and gravel for use in the construction industry . Beethoven 's Moonlight Sonata derives its name from an 1832 description of the first movement by poet and music critic Ludwig Rellstab , who compared it to moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Gioacchino Rossini uses this in his William Tell Overture Section A: Sunrise over

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1472-565: The lake of much of its through traffic, it continues to be used by a considerable number of vessels, both private and public. Much of this usage is tourist or leisure oriented, but the lake continues to provide practical public and cargo transport links between the smaller lakeside communities. Passenger boats of the Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees (SGV) provide services on the lake, including many run by historic paddle steamers . The SGV serves 32 places along

1518-551: The lake reaches its southwestern arm at Alpnachstad on the steep southern foothills of the Pilatus, the Alpnachersee . The lake drains its water into the Reuss in Lucerne from its arm called Luzernersee (which literally translates as Lake of Lucerne ). The entire lake has a total area of 114 km (44 sq mi) at an elevation of 434 m (1,424 ft) a.s.l., and a maximum depth of 214 m (702 ft). Its volume

1564-632: The lake with 214 m (702 ft). Even further west of it is the Buochser Bucht , but the lake sharply turns north again through the narrow opening between the Unter Nas (lower nose) of the Bürgenstock to the west and the Ober Nas (upper nose) of the Rigi to the east to reach the Vitznauer Bucht . In front of Vitznau below the Rigi the lake turns sharply west again to reach the center of

1610-570: The last station on the Gotthard railway before the line enters the Gotthard Base Tunnel , the world's longest railway tunnel. The official language of Altdorf is Swiss Standard German , but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic dialect. The municipality covers an area of 10.21 square kilometres (3.94 sq mi). The town proper sits at an altitude of 458 metres (1,503 ft) above sea level on

1656-412: The legend, Altdorf's marketplace is the site where William Tell shot the apple from his son's head, and in 1895 sculptor Richard Kissling unveiled a bronze statue commemorating the feat at the foot of an old tower. In 1899 a theatre was opened close to the town's center for the purpose of performing Schiller 's play of Wilhelm Tell . In 1905 a Museum was opened on Gottardstrasse just south of

1702-483: The most days of precipitation was June, with an average of 14.4, but with only 127 mm (5.0 in) of precipitation. The driest month of the year was February with an average of 66 mm (2.6 in) of precipitation over 13.2 days. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Altdorf is classified as Cfb, or Marine West Coast Climate. Altdorf is twinned with: Altdorf

1748-589: The north-east branch forms the long arm of Küssnacht , Küssnachtersee . These both lie in the direct line of a valley that stretches with scarcely a break in between the Uri Alps and the Emmental Alps . At the eastern end of the Gersauer Becken, where the containing walls of the lake-valley are directed from east to west, it is joined at an acute angle by the arm of Uri, or the Urnersee , lying in

1794-580: The northern prolongation of the deep cleft that gives a passage to the Reuss , between the Uri Alps and the Glarus Alps . The Urnersee occupies the northernmost and deep portion of the great cleft of the Reuss Valley, which has cut through the Alpine ranges from the St Gotthard Pass to the neighbourhood of Schwyz . From its eastern shore the mountains rise in almost bare walls of rock to

1840-444: The opening of the first track across the Gotthard Pass in 1230. This trade grew with the opening of a new mail coach road across the pass in 1830. This road had its northern terminus at Flüelen at the extreme eastern end of the lake, and the lake provided the only practical onward link to Lucerne , and hence the cities of northern Switzerland and beyond. Whilst the development of Switzerland's road and rail networks has relieved

1886-546: The population was made up of foreign nationals. From 2008 through 2017 the population has increased at an annual rate of 0.8%. Most of the population (as of 2000 ) speaks German (88.3%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (4.2%) and Italian being third ( 2.5%). As of 2007 the gender distribution of the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. In Altdorf about 65.2% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or

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1932-509: The sea is 434 metres, is the lowest point of the cantons of Uri, Obwalden and Nidwalden. Originally the lake was susceptible to variations in level and flooding along its shoreline. Between 1859 and 1860, the introduction of a needle dam in the Reuss in the city of Lucerne, just upstream from the Spreuerbrücke , allowed the lake level to be stabilised. The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin, as well as Central Switzerland,

1978-506: The shore of the lake, with interchange to both main line and mountain railways at various points. Under separate management, the Autofähre Beckenried-Gersau provides a car ferry service between Beckenried , on the south bank of the lake, and Gersau on the north. Cargo barges , to a local design known as Nauen , are still used on the lake. Some have been converted for use as party boats. Other barges are used by

2024-427: The southern of these two divisions of the lake—called Buochser Bucht —formerly extended to the west over the isthmus whereon stands the town of Stans , thus forming an island of the Bürgenstock. The west end of the main branch of the lake, whence a comparatively shallow bay extends to the town of Lucerne, is intersected obliquely by a deep trench whose south-west end is occupied by the branch called Alpnachersee , while

2070-608: The water and wind conditions. The lake is accessible from boat and yacht harbors, to lake resorts and pools (e.g. the Lido pool in Lucerne, built in 1929 by Arnold Berger). Therefore, the lake can be easily accessible from both shores. The See-Club Luzern was founded in 1881, which is now Switzerland's largest rowing club, as well as the Reuss Luzern rowing club (Ruderclub Reuss Luzern) in 1904. The Lucerne Yacht Club (Yachtclub Luzern) has existed since 1941 and has been running since 1966

2116-574: Was established in 1980 and the Hergiswil Water Sports Club (Wassersportclub Hergiswil) in 1986. SchweizMobil has created a canoe tour across Lake Lucerne between Brunnen and Gersau. Due to the wind in the Reuss Valley, the southern part of Lake Uri between the campground at Gruonbachstrand in Flüelen and Isleten is a center of windsurfing. There are about ten places where you can dive without a boat in Lake Lucerne. The water

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