Lucerne, Switzerland

Lucerne was an important medieval trading area between the upper Rhine and Lombardy. In the wake of the Reformation, it became the most important of the Catholic cantons, and was the seat of the papal nunzio until late in the nineteenth century. Upon Napoleon's conquest of Switzerland in 1798, Lucerne was for a brief time the capital of the new Helvetic Republic.

Mary Shelley's History of a Six Weeks' Tour, Part II, recounts her visit to Lucerne and Uri.

• Contexts:
  • Geography
• Illustrations:
  • Lucerne
  • Lake Lucerne
• Places:
  • The Reuss
  • Swizterland
  • Uri