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 ...

, in the Seelisberg municipality of the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

canton of Uri. It is the site of the Rütlischwur in traditional Swiss historiography, 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 (German language, Modern German: ; historically , after the Swiss Reformation, Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ...

. As such it is treated as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

of Switzerland. Since 1860, the ''Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft'' (SGG) has organized a celebration at the site on

Swiss National Day The Swiss National Day (german: Schweizer Bundesfeiertag; french: Fête nationale suisse; it, Festa nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Festa naziunala svizra) is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on 1 August. Although the founding of the Swiss ...

(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 Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

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.". O ...

Henri Guisan Henri Guisan (; 21 October 1874 – 7 April 1960) was a Swiss army officer who held the office of the General of the Swiss Armed Forces during the Second World War. He was the fourth and the most recent man to be appointed to the rarely us ...

used the site for his speech, now remembered as the "Rütlirapport", to all commanding officers of the Swiss Armed Forces in which he outlined the Reduit strategy and his aim never to surrender if invaded (see Switzerland during the World Wars): :"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 hiking trail created to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Switzerland. The National Day celebrations at the Rütli were disrupted by

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack r ...

s 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. 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