Liberal Arts Blog — Lausanne, Switzerland — the Alps, the Lake, the Cathedral, and More
Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Miscellaneous Day
Today’s Topic: Lausanne, Switzerland — the Alps, the Lake, the Cathedral, and More
It does not make sense. How can one of the most stunningly beautiful towns in Switzerland have a subway system? Well, once again, truth is stranger than fiction, and Lausanne does. 28 stops in fact. It is also the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee. I have fond memories of Lausanne because I once made a speech at an international hedge fund conference there and my hotel room had the most majestic view I have ever had anywhere on earth. Today a few random notes on the geography, history, and demographics. Don’t miss the bit about TS Eliot, the Wasteland, and Psalm 137. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
A LITTLE BIT OF GEOGRAPHY — Lake Geneva, aka “Lac Leman,” aka “Genfersee,” aka “Lago Lemano”
1. 60% of the lake belongs to Switzerland, 40% to France. The lake is in the shape of a crescent with its horns pointing south.
2. It is by far the largest lake in Switzerland, and one of the largest in Western Europe. It lies on the course of the Rhone River which originates in the Rhone Glacier which lies between the Grimsel and Fulka Passes at the eastern end of the lake.
3. “Yacht racing is a popular sport and high performance catamarrans have been developed specifically for the lake.” (see second link)
NB: “Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron holidayed by the lake and wrote ghost stories, one of which became the basis for the novel “Frankenstein” The Empress Elisabreth of Austria (Sisi) was stabbed to death on the quayside in Geneva in September 1898. Vladimir Lenin rented a little “chalet” at the French bank, near Geneva. Actor Charlie Chaplin spent his final years and died in Vevey…” And the list of other celebrities who have found the lake irresistible includes: David Bowie, Richard Burton, Audrey Hepburn, Phil Collins, Freddie Mercury, and Vladimir Nabokov. My favorite bit of literary trivia is that TS Eliot wrote most of “The Wasteland” in Lausanne. “By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept.” This line echoed Psalm 137 “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, and yea we wept when we remembered Zion.”
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY — A Roman military camp, a refuge for Huguenots (French Protestants). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the founding of Turkey (1923)
1. The Romans set up their military camp at the site of ancient Celtic settlement.
2. Like Geneva itself, Lausanne was a refuge for French Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
3. The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) settled the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied powers establishing Turkey as a country and granting amnesty for war crimes committed between 1914 and 1922 (notably the Armenian genocide). (See fourth link)
CAPITAL OF THE OLYMPICS SINCE 1994, SMALLEST CITY IN THE WORLD WITH A METRO SYSTEM
1. Once largely a Protestant city, Lausanne is now a plurality Roman Catholic city due to immigration from Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
2. The municipality narrowly defined has a population of 140,000 and is the fourth largest in Switzerland. The metropolitan area encompassing Geneva and surrounding towns numbers about 1.3 million and is the fastest growing in Switzerland. (See first link)
3. The skyline is dominated by the Protestant Cathedral of Notre Dame. Construction began in 1170 and was initially completed in 1230. But there were extensive restorations in the 18th and 19th centuries. The cathedral belongs to the Evangelical Reform Church of the Canton of Vaud which has about half a million members spread across. 158 congregations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Reformed_Church_of_the_Canton_of_Vaud
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh%C3%B4ne
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