An Interesting Moment at the Jesuit Church of Lucerne

It was day two of our weekend and Jonathan and I had left the beautiful Swiss city of Zurich and had traveled by train to the smaller city of Lucerne. We both loved Zurich. The old city was full of stone paths and roads, a city rail system, and bus system which made the traffic on the streets go almost unnoticed. We both were so sad to leave, but were excited to see what the city of Lucerne was like. When we got there it had the same feel as Zurich with its stoned roads, many cafes filled with residents of Lucerne as well as many other tourists like ourselves, and was surrounded by water. However, Lucerne had the advantage of having the Swiss Alps surrounding it, which made the backdrop amazing! When we first arrived we decide to do a walking tour since we only had a short period of time before leaving for our next destination. We walked through the streets of Lucerne and walked into many shops that sold Swiss Army brand knives and watches.

While browsing through the streets of the small city we found a beautiful church, so of course us being a tourist in Europe we decided to go inside and have a look. Before entering I was already comparing the exterior to the cathedrals I had already been in. It was obvious that the architecture was vastly different then the gothic style of Notre Dame that I had visited the weekend before. Right when we got inside we read the sign that sits in front of pretty much every church we have been in, “Please be quiet in this place of worship and please dress respectfully.” I like to think that I am mature enough to not have to worry about being loud and disrespectful in church, however I guess my maturity level is not as high as I had thought. While walking through the beautiful Jesuit Church of Lucerne and taking in the bright interior I was looking up at all of the ornamentation on the ceiling. I had made it to almost the front of the church when I heard something move underneath the pew. I jumped and yelled out a small “Ahhh”, because for some reason I thought a wild animal was underneath the pew. Don’t ask me why because I really have no idea why I thought this! It ended up being a man who had fallen asleep in a pew who jumped because I had startled him awake from his nap. This is the moment that my low level of maturity shined through, as I started laughing uncontrollably. It couldn’t have been just a quiet giggle either; it was like I was back in the 5th grade sitting with my best friend giggling uncontrollably while our parents were threatening to separate us during church. Luckily Jonathan and I were done looking at the church, because I had to leave as I was making a scene in front of those that were praying and napping

The Jesuit Church of Lucerne is one of the churches that I will actually remember from my trip to Europe this summer. Not just because of my laughing spell, but also because of the history that I learned from a book that I bought while I was there. When we first walked in the church the first thing I noticed was how bright it was inside. All of the other churches seemed so dark with the stained glass windows and dark wall ornamentation. These walls were made of plaster and were all white none of the windows were stained glass which allowed so much light to flow into the chapel. The pamphlet says “The Church of Lucerne is indeed quite extraordinary. It is based on the one hand on well-balanced dimensions and proportions and on the other on the way light is allowed to enter the church—through large windows in the chapels, galleries, and clerestory—filling the room uniformly with light and thus contributed to the desired static quality.” The stucco-work and ceiling paintings are absolutely amazing and they date back to 1672 when the church was originally built. Like most churches, changes were made to the original design but only in the addition of colored plaster-work that was done in the 18th century. The church’s simple exterior with two onion heads that sit symmetrical on each side of the façade and the ornate inside really show the Baroque style of architecture.
Through visiting the first church built in Lucerne I feel that I learned a lot about the history of Lucerne and the Baroque style architecture. Through experiencing the bright colored interior of the church and my not being able to control myself my trip to Lucerne was definitely memorable and is a place that I would recommend everyone to visit if they get the opportunity!

Here are some links about Lucerne and the Jesuit Church of Lucerne:

http://travelguide.all-about-switzerland.info/lucerne-jesuitchurch.html
http://www.luzern.org/en/navpage-CityExperienceLU-SightseeingLU-72049.html