Lake Lucerne
Lake Lucerne | ||
---|---|---|
Vierwaldstättersee ( Primary inflows | ||
Primary outflows | Reuss | |
Catchment area | 2,124 km2 (820 sq mi) | |
Basin countries | Switzerland | |
Max. length | 30 km (19 mi) | |
Max. width | 20 km (12 mi) | |
Surface area | 113.6 km2 (43.9 sq mi) | |
Average depth | 104 m (341 ft) | |
Max. depth | 214 m (702 ft) | |
Water volume | 11.8 km3 (2.8 cu mi) | |
Residence time | 3.4 years | |
Shore length1 | 143.7 km (89.3 mi) | |
Surface elevation | 434 m (1,424 ft) | |
Frozen | in the 17th and 19th century; Lucerne Bay and Lake Alpnach in 1929 and 1963 | |
Islands | Altstatt-Insel | |
Sections/sub-basins |
| |
Settlements | ||
Website | http://www.lakelucerne.ch | |
References | [1] | |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
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) is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country.
Geography
The lake has a complicated shape, with several sharp bends and four arms. It starts in the south–north bound
The entire lake has a total area of 114 km2 (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 is 11.8 km3. 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 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
Steamers and other passenger boats ply between the different villages and towns on the lake. It is a popular
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.[3] Later, the new findings indicated that the area was settled 2,000 years earlier than historians previously thought.[3]
Lake Lucerne borders on the three original Swiss cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden (which today 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 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 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 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 the northern prolongation of the deep cleft that gives a passage to the Reuss, between the Uri Alps and the Glarus Alps.[4][unreliable source]
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
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 the sea is 434 metres, is the
The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin, as well as Central Switzerland, is the Dammastock at 3,630 metres above sea level.[5]
Name
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.[1] The (three) "Waldstätte(n)" (lit.: "forested sites/settlements", in English usually translated as forest cantons[6]) since 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:[1][7]
- Urnersee ("Lake of Uri"): The first part of the lake, at the mouth of the Reuss between Flüelen and Brunnen.
- Gersauer Becken ("Basin of Gersau") next to Gersau below the Rigi massif is the deepest part of the lake.
- Buochser Bucht ("Bay of Buochs"): The bay of Bouchs, where the Engelberger Aa enters the lake.
- Vitznauer Bucht ("Bay of Vitznau"): The part between the Bürgenstock and Rigi.
- Alpnachersee ("Lake of Alpnach"): the almost separate, southern arm below the southern mountainside of Pilatus near Alpnach.
- Stanser Trichter ("Funnel of Stans"): The part north of the Pilatus, west of Bürgenstock, and in front of Hergiswil and Stansstad.
- Küssnachtersee ("Lake of Küssnacht"): The most northern arm, west of the Rigi with Küssnacht SZat its northern end.
- Chrütztrichter ("Cross Funnel"): The meeting point of Stanser Trichter, Luzernersee, Küssnachtersee, and Vitznauer Bucht.
- Luzernersee ("Lake of Lucerne"): in German usage now limited to the bay at Lucerne as far as Meggenhorn, with its effluence of the Reuss.
Settlements
Left shore[l 1] | Right shore |
---|---|
|
|
Luzern
|
The lake is navigable, and has formed an important part of Switzerland's transport system for many centuries, and at least since 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.[8][9]
Whilst the development of Switzerland's road and rail networks has relieved 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
Cargo
Cultural references
Rowing
Lake Lucerne has twice been used as a venue for the European Rowing Championships: in 1908 and then in 1926.[12][13] The nearby Rotsee has since 1933 been used for rowing regattas instead.
Tourism
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, 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, 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.
Watersports
Different sports are possible in some separate areas due to 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 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) 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.
Diving
There are about ten places where you can dive without a boat in Lake Lucerne. The water 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.
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ The weir in Lucerne keeps the water level 2–3 m (6 ft 7 in – 9 ft 10 in) above the natural average, see Canton of Lucerne, department of traffic and infrastructure (2008):Die Regulierung des Vierwaldstädtersees – Der Ausbau der Reusswehranlage in Luzern (PDF) Archived 14 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
References
- ^ a b c d Hans Stadler: Vierwaldstättersee in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 27 February 2013.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Switzerland - Lake Lucerne - Aerial Drone Video in 4K, retrieved 10 May 2021
- ^ a b Davis-Marks, Isis. "3,000-Year-Old Submerged Settlement Discovered in Switzerland". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
- ^ a b John Ball, The Alpine guide, Central Alps, p. 153, 1866, London
- ^ 1:25,000 topographic map (Map). Swisstopo. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ for the translation "forest canton" see e.g. Encyclopedia Britannica, 7th ed., vol. 21 (1842), p. 44.
- ^ "Vierwaldstättersee: Über sieben Becken..." (PDF). BeobachterNatur (in German). No. 8/2011. Zurich, Switzerland: Beobachter. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ "Paddle Steamboat Uri" (PDF). American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 5 September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
- ^ "Geschichte SGV" [SGV History] (in German). SGV. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ^ "WABAG Kies AG" (in German). WABAG Kies AG. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
- ^ "Arnold & Co. AG" (in German). Arnold & Co. AG. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
- International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
- International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
External links
- Waterlevels Lake Lucerne at Brunnen
- Waterlevels Lake Lucerne at Lucerne
- Lake Lucerne Region
- Nidwalden Tourism
- Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). pp. 97–98.