Description
Antique print dated 1895.
The page is over 115 years old and in good condition.
In order to enhance and protect the page we have set in within a bespoke frame and mount.
Frame size 400mm x 370mm. available also in a
gold frame, your choice. RtW.65.
Entitled – Lucerne. View of Lucerne and its Mountains.
Below the picture an inscription reads:
Lucerne. – We now leave Milan and travel by the Adriatico Railway to Chiasso, on the Swiss frontier, where we change on to the well-known St. Gothard line.
Lucerne is reached in ten hours.
August is the best month to visit Switzerland, which is divided into twenty-two cantons, and contains 2,900,000 people.
As a rule, nothing is got by sight-seeing in a hurry.
“Chi va piano va sano,” say the guides, with a sapient wag of the head; but, then, they may only be considering their own legs.
The surpassingly beautiful scenery of the mountains, lakes, and glaciers of Switzerland is not for a day, but for all time – we cannot change it; the sovereign and the dollar, however, have most certainly changed the Swiss, and extortion is rampant.
This said, let us look round Lucerne, leaving the station on the left bank of the lake.
This lovely town, with a population of 22,000, is situated on the Lake of Lucerne, at the efflux of the Reuss.
It is inclosed by well-preserved walls, with nine watch towers, erected in 1385.
The town lies in a sort of amphitheatre, as may by judged from our photogaph, facing the Rigi and Pilatus, and the snow-clad Alps of Uri and Engelberg.
The clear, green waters of the Reuss emerge from the lake here with the swiftness of a torrent.
The river is crossed by four bridges, the highest, an iron bridge 500ft. long and 50ft. wide, and known as the Seebrucke, affording a splendid view of the town and the lake.
Two other quaint bridges, the Kapellbrucke and the Spreuerbrucke, are carried obliquely across the stream, and both have roofs painted with scenes from Swiss history.
Adjoining the Kapellbrucke, in the middle of the river, rises the old Wassertharm, containing the municipal archives.
This old tower was once a lighthouse (lucerna), hence the name of the town.
Both the river and the lake are enlivened by swans and flocks of half-tame waterfowl.
The Schweizerhof Quay, constructed in 1852, and shaded with a fine avenue of chestnuts, extends along the north shore of the lake, and is bordered with shops and big hotels.
Passing down Alpenstrasse and Zurichenstrasse, we reach the famous Lion of Lucerne, designed by Thorwaldsen, and erected in memory of 26 officers and 760 men of the Swiss Guard, who fell in defence of the Tuileries on August 10th, 1792.
The dying lion, 28ft. long, is reclining in a grotto, transfixed by a lance, and is sheltering the Bourbon lily with his paw.
In the crooked streets of the old town are many quaint 16th and 17th century houses.
If you buy an item and then see it relisted this is because we occasionally have more than one available, each page is
original and not a photocopy.
Thank you for looking, please visit our shop.
