LUCERNE, LAKE OF, the name usually given by f or eigners to the principal lake of Central Switzerland. In French it is called the Lac des Quatre Cantons, and in German the Vier waldstattersee, the cantons being Lucerne, Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz. It is named after Lucerne, at the west end, where the Reuss issues from the lake, after having entered it at Haden at the east end; the Muota enters the lake at Brunnen (north) and two mountain streams, the Engelberg and the Sarnen Aa, at Buochs and Alpnachstad respectively (south). The lake is most beautifully situated between steep limestone mountains, the best known being the Rigi (north) and Pilatus (south-west), and great promontories thrust themselves into its waters, such as Horw (south), BUrgenstock (south), Meggenhorn (north) and Seelisberg (south), giving it a romantic irregularity. It occupies an old terminal basin of a glacier and along its shores are evidence of damming by moraines.
It is composed of four main basins (with two side basins), which represent four different valleys, orographically distinct, and connected only by narrow and tortuous channels. There is, first, the most easterly basin, the Bay of Uri, extending from Fliielen (south) to Brunnen (north). At Brunnen the delta of the Muota forces the lake west, so that it forms the Bay of Gersau or the Gulf of Buochs, from the promontory of Seelisberg (east) to that of Burgenstock (west). Another narrow strait between the two "Noses" (Nasen) leads west to the Basin of Weggis, between the Rigi (north) and the Burgenstock promontory (south). This bay forms the eastern arm of the "Cross of Lucerne," the western arm being the Bay of Lucerne, the northern arm the Bay of Kiissnacht and the southern arm that of Hergiswil, prolonged south-westwards by the Bay of Alpnach, with which it is joined by a narrow channel, spanned by the Acher iron bridge. The Bay of Uri offers the sternest scenery, and at Brunnen the Ever lasting League of 1315 was made, while the legendary place of meeting of the founders of Swiss freedom was the meadow of the Riitli (purchased by the Confederation in 1859), and the site of Tell's leap is marked by the Chapel of Tell (east).
In the Bay of Gersau is the village of Gersau (north), an independent republic (139o-1798), and now in Schwyz (1818 onwards). In the next basin to the west is Weggis (north), and on the northern shore of the lake is Vitznau, whence a rack railway leads up to the top of the Rigi (41 m.), while on the southern shore of the lake is Kehrsiten, with electric railway to the Biir genstock promontory. The town of Lucerne is connected with Fluelen by the St. Gotthard railway. On the promontory between Lucerne and Kiissnacht stands the castle of New Habsburg, while from Kfissnacht a motor road leads through the "Hollow Way" (HoItle Gasse), the scene of the legendary murder of Gessler by William Tell. The western shore of the southern arm is traversed from Horw to Alpnachstad by the Briinig railway (5 m.), which continues towards Sarnen (Obwalden) and the Bernese Oberland, and south-west from Alpnachstad, whence a rack railway leads north-west up Pilatus m.).
Lucerne is the only town of importance, but several spots serve as ports for neighbouring villages (Brunnen for Schwyz, Fliielen for Altdorf, Stanstad for Stans, Alpnachstad for Sarnen) .
Most of the villages are summer resorts (Gersau also in winter), especially Hertenstein, Weggis, Gersau, Brunnen, Beckenried and Hergiswil, while hotels have been built on heights above, as well as on the Rigi, Pilatus and the Stanserhorn. The area of the lake is about 441 sq.m., it is about 24 m. long, its greatest width only 2 m. and its greatest depth 702 ft., while the surface of the water is ft. above sea-level. Parts of the lake are in the cantons of Lucerne (151 sq.m.), Nidwalden (13 sq.m.), Uri (71 sq.m.), Schwyz (74 sq.m.) and i sq.m. in Obwalden.