LUZERN (Fr. LUCERNE), the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name. It is one of the principal tourist centres of Switzerland, being situated on the St. Gotthard railway line, by which it is 59 m. from Basel and 18o m. from Milan. The nucleus of the town was the monastery, founded about 75o on the right bank of the Reuss by the abbey of Murbach in Alsace, of which it long remained a "cell." It is first mentioned in a charter of 84o under the name of "Luciaria," and the form "Lucerrun" is first found in 1252. The germs of a municipal constitution appear in 1252, and in 1291 the Habsburgs purchased Lucerne from Murbach, an act that led a few weeks later to the foundation of the Swiss Confederation, of which Lucerne became the fourth member (the first town to be included) in 1332. It finally got rid of Habsburg domination after the victory of Sempach (1386). That victory led also to the gradual acquisition of territory ruled by and from the town. At the time of the Reformation Lucerne clung to the old faith, of which ever since it has been the great stronghold in Switzerland, and the papal nuncio resided here from i6o1 to 1873. In the i6th century, as elsewhere in Switzerland, the town government fell into the hands of an aristocratic oli garchy, whose power, though shaken by the peasant revolt (1653), lasted till 1798. Under the Helvetic republic (1798-1803) Lu cerne was the seat of the central government, under the act of Mediation (1803-14) one of the six "Directorial" cantons and from 1815 to 1848 one of the three ruling cantons. The patrician government was swept away by the cantonal constitution of 1831, but in 1841 they regained power, called in the Jesuits (1844) and so brought about the Sonderbund War (1847) in which they were defeated. The Radicals lost power in the canton in 1871, after which date the Conservatives became predominant in the canton, though in the town the Radicals were in the majority. Its prosperity has always been bound up with the St. Gotthard
pass, so that the successive improvements effected on that route (mule path in the 13th century, carriage road 1820-3o, and railway tunnel in 1882) have had much effect on its growth. Rail ways also connect Luzern with Meiringen, Bern, Zug, Geten and Lenzburg.
Luzern is situated on the banks of the river Reuss, just as it issues from the Lake of Lucerne, while to the south-west rises the range of Pilatus, balanced on the east by the ridge of the Rigi. To its north still stand nine of the towers that defended the old town wall. The Reuss is still crossed by two old wooden bridges, the upper being the Kapellbrticke (adorned by many paintings illustrating the history of Switzerland and the town and clinging to the Wasserthurm) and the lower the Millilen briicke (with paintings of the Dance of Death). The old Hof briicke (on the site of the Schweizerhof quay) was removed in 1852.
The principal building is the twin-towered Hofkirche (dedi cated to St. Leger or Leodegar) which, though in its present form it dates only from 1633-35, originally formed part of a Benedictine monastery. It has a 17th century organ. The 16th century town-hall (Rathhaus) now houses the cantonal museum.
Both the cantonal and the town libraries are rich in old books.
The Lion monument, designed by Thorwaldsen, dedicated in 1821, and consisting of a dying lion hewn out of the living sandstone, commemorates the officers and men of the Swiss Guard, who were slain while defending the Tuileries in Paris in 1792. In the im mediate neighbourhood is the Glacier garden, a series of potholes worn in the sandstone rock bed of an ancient glacier.
In 1799 the population numbered but 4,337, but had doubled by 1840. Since then the rise has been rapid and continuous, being 29,255 in and 47,066 in 1930. The vast majority are Ger man-speaking (in 1930 there were 1,041 Italian-speaking and 1,340 French-speaking persons) and Roman Catholics (in 1930 there were 10,630 Protestants and 469 Jews).