Lützelau (

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

: ''little island'') is an island located, with the neighbouring island of Ufenau, in

Lake Zürich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

between

Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...

( away) and

Freienbach Freienbach is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Höfe District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. History Freienbach is first mentioned in 972 as ''Friginbach''. Geography Freienbach has an area, , of . Of this area, 40.7% ...

( away).

Geography

Lützelau lies in

Höfe district Höfe District is a district of the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. The coat of arms of the Höfe is ''per pale: gules, two lions rampant contourny or; and or, three lions passant gules''. It has a population of (as of ). The district contains th ...

in the

Canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz ( ; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton in central Switzerland between the Swiss Alps, Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on and named after the town of Schwyz. It is one ...

. Since the 13th/14th centuries, it has belonged to the community of

(now called ''Ortsbürgergemeinde''). The island measures in all, from east to west and from north to south. The highest point of the island is above sea level or above lake level at . On occasion of the formation of the Alps, the fossilized sediments material of the body of water between the Ricken and Etzel chains unfolded. There arose the typical rock bands that form the

Lindenhof hill The Lindenhof (''"Tilia, linden yard"'') is a moraine hill and public square in the historic center of Zurich, Switzerland. It is the site of the Switzerland in the Roman era, Roman and Carolingian era Kaiserpfalz around which the city has histor ...

in Rapperswil, or the islands of Ufnau, Lützelau and Heilighüsli. During the last Ice Age the island was under a thick layer of ice, and the hard layers of conglomerate rock and the sandstone ridge survived the sanding by the glacier.

History

First mentioned in the year 741, there was formerly a nunnery here, given by the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

c noblewoman Beata, daughter of Rachinbert and wife of Landolt. In the year 744, the nunnery, or abbey, was sold to

Einsiedeln Abbey Einsiedeln Abbey () is a Catholic monastery administered by the Benedictine Order in the village of Einsiedeln, Switzerland. The Abbey of Einsiedeln is one of the most important baroque monastic sites and the largest place of pilgrimage in Swit ...

. Historians mention a 10th-century ferry station assumably at the so-called ''

Einsiedlerhaus Einsiedlerhaus ("Hermit's dwell") is a historic building with an adjoint garden which is part of the former town wall of the medieval Switzerland, Swiss town of Rapperswil in the Canton of St. Gallen. Location Situated on the shore of Zürich ...

'' in

– in 981 AD as well as the vineyard on the

– between Kempraten on lake shore, Lützelau and Ufenau island and assumably present Hurden, which allowed the pilgrims towards Einsiedeln to cross the lake before the prehistoric bridge at the

Seedamm The Rapperswil Seedamm is the artificial causeway at the narrowest area of Lake Zurich between Hurden, Hurden (SZ) and Rapperswil (SG). The structure contains two bridge segments and is approximately long. The Seedamm carries a road () and ...

isthmus was re-built in 1358. In the late Middle Ages, Einsiedeln sold the island to the

Counts of Rapperswil The House of Rapperswil respectively Counts of Rapperswil (''Grafen von Rapperwil'' since 1233, before ''Lords'') ruled the upper ''Zürichsee'' and ''Seedamm'' region around Rapperswil and parts of, as of today, Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, ...

who used its sandstone besides the Bollingen quarries to build the town of Rapperswil. On 12 May 1433 ''Heini Murer von Grueningen'' and his wife ''Anna Keller'' confirmed the transfer of their lands on ''Lutzelnoew'' for ''100 Pfund Pfennig Zürcher Währung'' to the Abbot ''Johans'' and the convent of the Rüti Abbey, including buildings and lands in the Herrschaft Grüningen, and to be enrolled in the abbey's ''libri anniversariorum'' (German: ''Jahrzeitbuch''). From the 16th century the Hospital of the Holy Ghost (''Heiliggeistspital'') of the city of

was located here, which from 1810 was a quarantine hospital, in

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

''Siechenhaus'' which in ancient times was situation in Kempraten. Remains of the former abbey church (8th century) were found in 1964.

Transport

The island has a small restaurant and a campsite. Tourist boat trips – run by the

Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft The Lake Zurich Navigation Company (, ZSG) is a public Swiss company operating passenger ships and boats on Lake Zurich () and the river Limmat in Zurich.The company's services connect lake-side towns between Zurich and Rapperswil/ Schmerikon, i ...

– sail from

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and Rapperswil to the island of Ufenau only; to Lützelau there is a commercial "island taxi" service from Rapperswil between May and September. File:Lützelau-Ufenau - Rapperswil Lindenhof 2011-01-17 16-17-36.jpg, Lützelau as seen from ''Lindenhof'' in

File:Rapperswil - Lützelau - Ufenau - ZSG Helvetia 2015-09-09 16-46-48.JPG,

, Lützelau and Ufenau islands as seen from ZSG ship MS ''Helvetia'' File:Frauenwinkel - Lützelau IMG 2539.JPG, Lützelau as seen from '' Frauenwinkel'' protected area File:Rapperswil - Lützelau IMG 1935.JPG, Lützelau as seen from the west

Protection

In 1927 the Ufenaucorrectly spelled "Ufnau", but "Ufenau" is commonly used and the Lützelau islands, as well as the so-called '' Frauenwinkel'' area at the

area towards Hurden were placed under conservation, being since 1993 a «Moorlandschaft von besonderer Schönheit und nationaler Bedeutung», i.e. a

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

environment of extraordinary beauty and national importance. Swimming, camping and other leisure activities are permitted on Lützelau campsite, but forbidden on Ufnau, as well within the ''Frauenwinkel'' lake area.

References

External links