One of my big rules when travelling is to always identify landmarks that I can use for navigating around town. In Lucerne we picked a big double-steepled church just up the road from our tour’s squishy hotel. Up until writing this post I had no idea what the place was (other than a church).

So here is a photo taken from a roadway below it. To get from our hotel to the lake we always had to walk past it.

Nothing special, you think. That’s what we thought.

Here is looking down the steps from the front of the church. I was too dumb to take a photo of the front, but if I can find my 2002 video then I can show it to you with that one day.

On our free afternoon we decided to explore it. Alas there was a wedding, so we could only explore the buildings that made up its complex. Turned out that it was also a cemetery.

One thing about Germanic cemeteries is how they are different from ours down in Australia. We have large fields laid out with stones. They have these covered walkways. I suspect that their way is more visually pleasing. Nicole and I both tend to share that opinion, especially when we visited Salzburg over a decade ago.

And just the artwork in the carving possesses a certain bold spirit. The carving above certainly captures the essence of an anthropomorphic Death.

 

And naturally I found a flower shot.

Back in Australia, writing this post, I looked up this church. Turned out that it was called St Leodegar and was built from 1633 to 1639 on the foundations of a Roman basilica. It was also known for its rich art. I was then annoyed that we did not look inside.

By the way, St Leodegar was a martyred 7th century Burgundian Bishop.

Oh well, such is life.

All this said, it did turn out to be an excellent landmark that was easily seen through a lot of Lucerne.

Thanks for reading

Greg

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