LAUSANNE
MOZART´S STAY
The Mozarts had originally planned to make a short lunch stop over in Lausanne, the capital of the Swiss canton of Waadt. But friendly inhabitants persuaded them to stay and so their visit lasted for one week. During this time, the children gave concerts and Wolfgang composed K. 33a, which has unfortunately been lost.
PLACES OF INTEREST
Old Academie (Rue Cité Devant 3) House of Prince Ludwig Eugen Württemberg Today site of Villa Monrion Avenue Dapples 9, 13,15 Salle des Deux-Cents im Hôtel de Ville
ABOUT LAUSANNE
Have you ever arrived in Lausanne by boat? If so, perhaps you can imagine how it looked in olden times to the lake boatmen and the merchants of the Roman port of Lousonna, which stood where Vidy is today. Over millions of years the Rhône has flowed through the huge basin of the Léman, giving our city of today the most beautiful mirror imaginable. For two thousand years and more the lake has meant trade, war or leisure, and the turbulent history of this part of Switzerland has been marked by the lake’s role as an intersection of the great cross-European routes connecting the North Sea, the Po Plain and the Mediterranean, Via the Rhine, the Alps and the Rhône.
Lausanne: a medieval city with an influence spreading throughout the Christian world ; a splendid Gothic Cathedral, consecrated in 1275 and reformed in 1536 ; a town ruled by Berne until proclaimed part of an independent republic in 1798 ; capital of the canton of Vaud, a member of the Swiss Confederation since 1803. Lausanne’s historic past could hardly be sketched more briefly, but what a story it is!
In the Old Town on its hilltop, time seems to have stood still. Nightly, the voice of the watchman crying the hours still echoes from the Cathedral tower. And today as of old, commerce is the heart of Lausanne. Since the turn of the century many hotels – some in deluxe style – have been built in response to the increasing influx of visitors for trade and tourism. Writers, artists and statesmen have stayed in the city; its grand hotels and palaces have seen the signing of several international treaties, reflecting the atmosphere of tolerance, serenity and good sense which permeates the town and its surroundings.
One historic figure who fell under Lausanne’s spell was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics. In 1915 he established the first headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) here, and many international sports bodies have since followed. 1993 saw the Olympic Museum, a centre of interest for sports enthusiasts, inaugurated on the lakeshore. In 1994 Lausanne, now the home not only of the IOC but also of numerous international sports federations – aeronautics, rowing, baseball, cycling, horse-riding, fencing, gymnastics, skating, wrestling, swimming, archery, volleyball – was officially named Olympic Capital.
The service organizations (banking, insurance, tourism) and multinational companies which have their headquarters here have brought considerable national and international influence to Lausanne. It is also a place of learning (University, Federal Institute of Technology, many professional and private schools) and of research (University teaching hospital, Nestlé hospital), a city of culture (music and opera, cinema, theatre, ballet, many museums), and the scene of world-class sports events. To people in Switzerland and abroad, for whom city elegance and social interchange are part of a lifestyle, Lausanne is unique. Poised above the lake it is still as desirable, still as welcoming as it was for those who sailed into the harbour of Vidy twenty centuries ago.
The "Orchestre e Chambre de Lausanne" is representing the city of Lausanne in the European Mozart Ways Association
PARTNER ACTIVITIES
Detailed information you find on the local websites of our partners or http://www.mozartways.com/lausanne
CONTACT & INFORMATION
Lausanne Tourisme Avenue de Rhodanie 2 Postbox 49 CH - 1000 Lausanne 6 Tel: 021 / 6137321 Fax: 021 / 6168647 http://www.lausanne-tourisme.ch E-mail: [email protected]
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne Rue St-Laurent 19 CH-1003 Lausanne Tel. +4121-345 00 20 Fax +4121-345 00 21 http://www.regart.ch/ocl/ E-mail: [email protected]