Lindenhof (Rapperswil)

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View from Etzel (mountain)
View of Kempraten on the western flank
Endingerhorn , view from Lake Zurich
View of the Schlosshalde , around 1825, colored aquatint by Meinrad Kälin
Rapperswil and the surrounding area on an illustration from 1835

The Lindenhof is the central range of hills in the old town and a public square in Rapperswil , a district of the Swiss municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen .

topography

Thanks to its location on a peninsula on the Kempratner Bay on upper Lake Zurich , the 30 meter high Nagelfluhfelsen is surrounded on three sides by Lake Zurich, at the narrowest point of Lake Zurich at the so-called Rapperswil Seedamm . Its greatest dimension is around 600 meters in east-west and around 150 meters in south-north. The moraine hill is a remnant of the Rhein-Linth glacier during the Würme Ice Age and is believed to have been formed during the so-called Zurich stage around 20,000 years ago.

Since it was settled, the range of hills has been greatly altered by human interference, especially at the beginning of the 17th century. The area required for the construction of the Capuchin monastery had to be blasted out of the rock and partly removed by hand so that the oldest parts of the monastery fit into the Lindenhof. Later, space was also created for the monastery garden on the Endingerhorn, jutting out to the west into Lake Zurich. The rifle house, which was also built on the castle hill in 1607, is said to be " the Capucin fathers not wanting a tumult because of the riflemen ", as the chronicle of Pastor Rothenflue from Jonah reports. The rifle house, which burned down in 1866, was built with a reduced number of windows facing the monastery due to the shooting noise; today there is an impressive view of Lake Zurich from this point.

Attractions

As the most striking elevation within the old town , which was walled until the 1830s , the east-west-oriented range of hills forms the northern end of the old town of Rapperswil with the back alley on its southern flank. In the south is the main square by the town hall with the six alleys of the old town running east and west at the site of the previous settlement in Endingen . The southern flank is called Schlossberg , with the vineyard at Haus Schlossberg and the rose gardens at the Einsiedlerhaus and Capuchin monastery.

In the east, the Herrenberg forms the northern end of the rocky chain of hills that reach far into Lake Zurich, with the section called Rapperswil Castle on the castle hill and the center of the city fortifications. The fortifications, visible from afar, with their high towers, together with the massive construction of the parish church and the Breny tower , still dominate the cityscape of the old town below. The Polish Freedom Column has been located on the castle terrace since 1868, as a sign of Swiss solidarity with peoples struggling for their freedom, and today's Polish Museum . The terrace also offers an impressive panoramic view of the old town, Lake Zurich, the Seedamm and the Glarus Alps in the distance . There is a playground here up to the western side of the hill by the Capuchin monastery, with park benches and two fountains along the deer park.

On the north side, the Schlosshalde , a supervised deer park with around a dozen fallow deer stretches down to the lake and is reminiscent of the legend of the city's foundation. The deer park is said to go back to the founding of Rapperswil, which is described in a legend about the (supposedly) unfaithful wife of Count Rudolf von Rapperswil . The current enclosure on the northeastern castle hill has been looked after by the animal keeper of the tourist association since 1872. The deer park is surrounded by walking paths along the Schlosshalde with a well-tended arboretum , which had to be thinned out in 2010 due to damage to the tree population. On the lake is the Seebadi , an outdoor pool in the Kempraten Bay.

The southern, western and northern flanks of the Lindenhof with the lake-side, well-preserved remains of the city fortifications - between the Giessi meadow near the Stadtbach and the Haldenturm over the Endingerhorn at the westernmost point of the peninsula to the Endinger tower at the Einsiedlerhaus - has been by the Bühler since the 1880s -All accessible.

literature

  • Peter Röllin: Rapperswil-Jona cultural building set: 36 museums without a roof . Rapperswil-Jona 2005, ISBN 3-033-00478-4 .

Web links

Commons : Lindenhof  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b History of the Capuchin monastery in Rapperswil
  2. ↑ The development of today's little town - originally «Neu-Rapperswil» - is described in a legend : «One morning in the morning the Lord von Rapperswil [Rudolf II. Von Neu-Rapperswil] drove with his wife and some servants (von Altendorf ) across the lake to hunt. As soon as they reached the bank, his dogs found a doe and chased her up to the top of the ridge (Schlossberg). Here the animal hid in a cave. When the hunters came to the cave, they saw that there were two calves in addition to the doe. The wife took pity on the animals and got her husband to withdraw the dogs and give the doe his life. At lunchtime the count and his wife were resting in the shade, when the doe appeared and laid her head in the woman's lap to thank her for saving her life. The count was touched and ordered the three animals to be brought to Altendorf and raised in an enclosure. He saw a sign from heaven in this incident and decided the next day to found a new castle on the rock and a small town on the southern slope. " Today the deer park near the castle is a reminder of this 800 year old tradition.

Coordinates: 47 ° 13 '37.5 "  N , 8 ° 48' 52.2"  E ; CH1903:  704 195  /  231596