Cities / Lausanne
Switzerland · Environmental history
Lausanne: A river buried under a city, terraces older than the cathedral, and the man who invented lake science.
Lausanne stands on three hills and a river you cannot see. A historian walks the Flon valley the city filled in, the Lavaux terraces that monks began in the twelfth century, and the shore at Ouchy where François-Alphonse Forel founded limnology, the science of lakes, in the 1890s. The cathedral and the Olympic city on request.
The timeline the walk follows
Cistercian monks begin the vineyards that UNESCO listed in 2007.
Consecrated in the presence of the emperor and the pope.
Bern takes the Vaud; the bishop leaves.
The river valley is filled and built over; the city gains a centre.
Le Léman, the first scientific study of a lake.
Themes
Choose one, or name your own.
Two hours covers one theme well. Three hours links two.
- Forel and the birth of limnology
- Lavaux: eight hundred years of terraces
- The Flon: a river under a city
- Cathedral and the Reformation of 1536
- Olympic Lausanne
Private walk
Your group only, your questions, your pace.
Group walk
Schools, companies, cruise and coach groups. Larger groups split.
Your theme
A period, a person, a family story. We find the historian who knows it.
Led by
A historian from Lausanne, from LocalBini’s vetted network
Meeting point
Central, confirmed in your booking email
Not included
Entry tickets to monuments and museums
Questions
About Lausanne.
How steep is it?
Lausanne is a city of hills. We plan the walk downhill and use the metro back up; say if mobility matters.
Lavaux included?
A separate half day with transport, or a three hour walk starting in Lutry.
Cancellation?
Free cancellation up to 7 days before the walk. Within 7 days the walk is non refundable, since the historian has reserved the time. We reschedule for severe weather at no cost.
Walk Lausanne with a historian.
Date, time, length and theme. We reply within a day and confirm your historian within two to three.