Rapperswil - a charming town at the lake Zurich

delishtreats (70)in GEMS • 4 years ago

Today, I would like to take you for a walk in a medieval town of Rapperswil. Would you like to join me?

Of course, we will visit a castle too! 😊

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Rapperswil

Rapperswil is located at the lake Zürich in the canton of St. Gallen. It is easily accessible by car, train, bus and even by boat from Zürich.

The region has a long history. The relics that were found there date back to 5000 years ago.

The town itself was established in ca. 1200 AD by Rudolf II and Rudolf III von Rapperswil. After the death of the last Count of Rapperswil, the town was ruled by the Habsburg family for over a century. The town bought its freedom in 1415. In the middle of the 15th century it fell under the control of the Swiss confederacy. Rapperswil was a prosperous town because of it strategic location. At the beginning of the 19th century, Rapperswil joined the canton of St. Gallen and has been part of it ever since.

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It is a small town with many historical sites. One of them is the Rapperswil castle that is perched high above the town on top of the Lindenhof Hill. Today, it serves as the Polish museum. This is where we will go today.

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On the way to the castle we found this abandoned shoe. Do you wonder why there is such a sculpture in the middle of the historical town? Rapperswil is the headquarters to Circus Knie (Swiss National Circus) and this is the reason why there are a few sculptures representing the circus community. This is a super-sized clown shoe 😊 There is even a circus museum in Rapperswil.

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Rapperswil Castle

We are now standing in front of the staircase that will lead us to the castle on top of the Lindenhof Hill.

It is not know when exactly this castle was built. It is however assumed that it was built between 1200 and 1220 AD.

The first mention of the castle dates back to 1229. It was built by the Count Rudolf II and his son Rudolf III von Rapperswil. In 1442, it was given to the city of Rapperswil. Later it was controlled by the Swiss confederation. It was left abandoned and almost fell to ruins. It was saved by a Polish Count who leased the castle in 1870 and restored it. The restoration was financed by Wladyslaw Broel-Plater who established the Polish museum at the end of 1870.

Polish museum doesn't relate to history of the castle or the town and there was a petition to remove it and establish a new museum about the history of the region and Rapperswil. This however didn't happen, and the Polish museum is still located in the castle.

We will go to the castle anyway to get an impression about its interior. Before we enter the castle, we will walk around it.

Let's go to the gardens first..

The castles grounds are very well maintained. The area includes animal park with deer as well. Can you see them?

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Rapperswil is also knows as the „town of roses.“ There are over 20,000 rose bushes and around 600 varieties of roses in the city. The biggest gardens are at the Capuchin monastery and and on the „Schanz.“ The latter is a special rose garden as it is established for the blind with very fragrant roses. Some of them are blooming even in October.

I didn't adjust the color of this rose..

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Now we will walk down to the promenade..

Can you see a mosquito? 😊

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On the way to the promenade we can see the castle from behind the trees..

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Next to the castle there is the St. John's church. It was built around 1229.

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This is part of the Capuchin Monastery.

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Before we go back to the castle, we can enjoy the view of the monastery gardens.

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Polish Museum

The entrance fee to the museum is CHF 5. We only had 30 minutes for the excursion as we came very late..

Let's start the tour! The first thing that we noticed were beautiful views from the castle.

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The museum is maintained by the Association of Friends of the Polish Museum. There are no public funds supporting the museum. The present exhibition was opened in 1990 as a result of close co-operation with museums in Poland.

There are several rooms showing different collections.

This room is dedicated to the Polish emigration to Switzerland in the 19th century. During the Occupation, many Poles found their new home in Switzerland. It was also a possibility for them to continue their activities.

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In this room we can find details about the famous Poles. On the right there is a bust of Mikolaj Kopernik, author of the heliocentric theory.

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There are a few rooms dedicated to paintings and drawings as well.

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On the way to the tower we passed this corridor with maps of Poland from different centuries.

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There are nice views of the courtyard from the corridor. The wooden part of the castle is the corridor where we are standing now.

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We only have about 15 minutes now, so hurry up to the tower! The climb is very easy and takes us just a few minutes. The views of the city and the lake are very nice. You can see the Swiss Alps on the clear day. We were not lucky this time.

I like this view through the window.. We wanted to stay longer, but the museum was about to close. We didn't want to go home yet, so we decided to go for a walk to the lake.

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