Franciscan Church

About this place

On a quiet little square a few metres from the crush of the old town stands **one of the oldest churches in Lucerne, and the oldest of its friary churches**: built by Franciscan friars between 1270 and 1280, with the friary in use until 1838. From outside it is an austere Gothic box with almost no ornament — deliberately so, the Franciscans being an order of poverty — and inside it is a complete surprise: baroque and rococo layers added over the centuries on top of the Gothic bones. Its best-known feature is the **carved wooden pulpit** dated 1628, described as the most richly ornamented wooden pulpit in Switzerland. But the more interesting thing for a visitor is another: a row of **banners painted on the wall** above the arcades, depicting flags taken by Lucerne's soldiers in their medieval wars — the most famous attributed to the Battle of Sempach in 1386. A whole wall of painted war spoils inside a church: a strange and very local sight. The visit is short — twenty minutes is enough — and free. But **its hours are broken up** and it closes over the middle of the day, which is why most people miss it. Best plan: call in during the morning on your way from the station into the old town, before the Chapel Bridge and the Lion Monument. The café-lined square outside is one of the calmest corners in Lucerne.