Su questo luogo
Just a few steps from the grand Weinmarkt, Hirschenplatz feels like a quieter, more secretive pocket of the Altstadt. Its name comes from the old 'Zum Hirschen' (The Stag) inn, one of the most important lodging houses of the medieval city, and for centuries this compact space served humbler daily needs, having begun life as a pig market. What makes it unforgettable today are the walls themselves. Several of the surrounding houses are wrapped in richly ornamented frescoes, many painted in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and now protected as historic monuments. These murals were the billboards and newspapers of their age, advertising trades, honouring saints, and commemorating great events for a population that largely could not read. The most famous house here is the Goldener Adler, or Golden Eagle, where the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed in 1779 during his Swiss journey. A painted portrait of the poet still gazes down from its facade, a reminder that this small square once welcomed one of Europe's greatest writers.
Fatti principali
- 1779 year — Goethe lodged at the Goldener Adler inn here during his Swiss travels
- 1499 year — A fresco commemorates the Swabian War, the last conflict between the Swiss and the Holy Roman Empire
- 19 century — When many of the square's surviving painted facades were created
📍 Hirschenplatz 2, 6004, Luzern