Rütli () or Grütli (; ) is a mountain meadow on

Lake Lucerne __NOTOC__ Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central S ...

, in the

Seelisberg Seelisberg is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. History The Rütli meadow, according to legend the site of the original oath foundational to the Old Swiss Confederacy, is situated in the territory of the municipality. The Seel ...

municipality of the Swiss canton of Uri. It is the site of the Rütlischwur in traditional

Swiss historiography The historiography of Switzerland is the study of the history of Switzerland. Early accounts of the history of the Old Swiss Confederacy are found in the numerous Swiss chronicles of the 14th to 16th centuries. As elsewhere in Europe, these ...

, the

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

marking the foundation of the original

Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th century ...

. As such it is treated as a national monument of Switzerland. Since 1860, the ''Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft'' (SGG) has organized a celebration at the site on Swiss National Day (1 August), since 1994 recognized as a public holiday.

History

The Rütli became a site of symbolic importance for Swiss national identity in the early 18th century, with incipient National Romanticism. In the 1780s, there were (unsuccessful) proposals to erect a monument to Liberty at the site. Under the Helvetic Republic, the Rütli became a site of pilgrimage for conservative dissidents. In 1804, the year after the dissolution of the Helvetic Republic, Friedrich Schiller published his ''Willam Tell'', which dramatized the Rütli oath. A patriotic ''Rütlilied'' was written by Johann Krauer and Franz Joseph Greith in 1820. In 1859, the Rütli meadow was bought by the ''Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft'' (SGG, "Swiss society for public utility, founded 1810) with the aim of preserving it as a site of national importance, among other reasons because there were plans to build a hotel at the site. The SGG turned ownership of the site over to the Confederacy under the condition of treating it as an unalienable national property and leaving its administration entrusted to the SGG. On July 25, 1940,

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Henri Guisan used the site for his speech, now remembered as the "Rütlirapport", to all commanding officers of the

Swiss Armed Forces The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

in which he outlined the Reduit strategy and his aim never to surrender if invaded (see

Switzerland during the World Wars During World War I and World War II, Switzerland maintained armed neutrality, and was not invaded by its neighbors, in part because of its topography, much of which is mountainous. Germany was a threat and Switzerland built a powerful defense. I ...

): :"I decided to reunite you in this historic place, the symbolic ground of our independence, to explain the urgency of the situation, and to speak of you as a soldier to soldiers. We are at a turning point of our history. The survival of Switzerland is at stake." Since 1991, Rütli has also been the start of the

Swiss Path The Swiss Path () is a special national path in central Switzerland opened in 1991, in the cantons of Uri and Schwyz. It makes a loop around the ''Urnersee'', the southern arm of Lake Lucerne. The trail starts at the Rütli: the meadow where, ac ...

hiking trail created to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Switzerland. The National Day celebrations at the Rütli were disrupted by Neo-Nazis in 2005. In reaction to this, access to the celebration was subject to pre-registration the following year. In apparent connection to this controversy, an individual caused a detonation at the 2007 celebration. The "attacker" was dubbed "Rütli-Bomber" in the popular press and spent a year in custody and while being investigated by

federal police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

. It turned out that the "bomb" consisted of legal fireworks buried in the meadow at a depth of 20 cm. The case was closed without charges being filed in 2011.Nadja Ackermann
Rütli-Bomber
'' Année Politique Suisse'', 11 October 2011 (updated 10 August 2016).

References

External links

Rütli Commission website
(English/French/German/Italian) * https://www.sgg-ssup.ch/en/ruetli-en.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutli Geography of Switzerland Geography of the canton of Uri Monuments and memorials in Switzerland Tourist attractions in the canton of Uri

History

See also

References

External links