The best family-friendly hikes and walks around District de Lausanne

The tower is very specially constructed. Is definitely worth seeing!

The Château Saint-Maire in Lausanne is a medieval castle that originally served as a bishop's residence. After the Bernese conquest in 1536, it was converted into an administrative center – a role it continues to hold today as the seat of the cantonal government.

Fountain, place de la Palud – Lausanne Fountain, place de la Palud The column and statue were created in 1584-85 by Laurent Perroud of Neuchâtel and his son Jacques, the former having died before its completion. Laurent Perroud built several fountains throughout western Switzerland. He has notably depicted the judiciary in Neuchâtel, Soleure and Moudon. The fountain in Lausanne depicts the typical blindfolded young woman carrying a sword and scales. The Pope, the Emperor, the Grand Turk and a magistrate bow submissively at her feet. The ornamental central stack features a circular base with sculpted archways surmounted by a ribbed column decorated with acanthus leaves, city coats of arms and a garland held by four muffles. A capital decorated with acanthus leaves and volutes crowns the column. The stack and the column are copies created in 1930; the originals are in the Lausanne History Museum. The magnificent spouts date from 1557-59 and the twelve-sided basin was built in 1726. Text / Source: Lausanne Tourisme – administration, Avenue de Rhodanie 2, Lausanne https://www.lausanne-tourisme.ch/en/explore/fountain-place-de-la-palud/

Lausanne City Hall (Hôtel de Ville de Lausanne) The imposing City Hall, overlooking the picturesque Place de la Palud from its bell tower, still houses the city administration today. The Lausanne architect Abraham de Crousaz built it between 1673 and 1675 on the foundations of the existing hotels. As an important center of life in Lausanne, it combined several functions: as a political center, it served as both the seat and a symbol of civic power; it was an economic center, housing the wheat market in its ground-floor halls; and it served as a defensive structure, with the bells in its bell tower warning of danger. The City Hall, much admired since its construction, is the most interesting achievement of 17th-century Vaudois architecture. Its main façade features a particularly subtle composition. While the alignment of the bays and their cornices creates a striking and explicit horizontal effect, the vertical axis, defined by the sculptural portal and the tower, is implicitly reinforced by the rhythm of the windows, which become increasingly closer together as they approach the center, and by the rhythm of the arcades, which become progressively narrower. The roof, on the other hand, echoes the aesthetics of regional farmhouses in its form, completing an original silhouette with a provincial touch. Text / Source: City of Lausanne, Department of Architecture and Housing, Department of Housing, Environment and Architecture, Rue du Port-Franc, 182nd floor, Lausanne https://www.lausanne.ch/portrait/carte-identite/architecture-et-monuments/patrimoine-architectural/ancien-regime/hotel-de-ville

Château St-Maire / Schloss Saint-Maire, Lausanne The building, with its solid construction typical of the city palaces of the time, still shows today that it served both residential and military purposes. Since the Bernese did not want to leave the castle to the people of Lausanne in 1536, they housed their bailiff there. It has been the seat of the cantonal government since 1803. The castle's defensive storey is particularly noteworthy. It is made of brick and has battlements and machicolations. It was probably built by Italian masters at the invitation of Bishop Guillaume de Challant (1406-1431), who himself came from the Aosta Valley. This type of architecture has well-known predecessors such as the fortress of Verona and no less famous successors such as the Moscow Kremlin. Text / Source: Lausanne Tourisme – administration, Avenue de Rhodanie 2, Lausanne https://www.lausanne-tourisme.ch/de/entdecken/schloss-saint-maire/

Lausanne Cathedral of Notre-Dame It was not until 1275 that the cathedral was consecrated by Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg and Pope Gregory X. After that, Jean Cotereel, the third master builder, took over the construction site and erected the western part, which he equipped with a portal porch and two towers, one of which carries the bells. The other tower was not completed. The very original painted portal was added to the south facade around 1225-1235. It was not until 1275 that the cathedral was consecrated by Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg and Pope Gregory X. In 1536, the cathedral was greatly altered during the Reformation when a new space for worship was created in the nave. It was then repeatedly restored in the 18th and 19th centuries, notably under the direction of the famous French architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. The interior of the cathedral is characterised by its extraordinary colourfulness. This decoration, which dates back to the original building, was covered over during the Reformation, but was brought back to light at the beginning of the 20th century: In the Chapel of Mary and on the statues of the painted portal, unique in Europe, whose complete restoration was completed in October 2007, the paintings are still recognisable. The rosette is one of the masterpieces of European church art: its panes illustrate the medieval worldview in which God as creator was at the centre. Text / Source: Lausanne Tourisme – administration, Avenue de Rhodanie 2, Lausanne https://www.lausanne-tourisme.ch/de/entdecken/kathedrale-von-lausanne/

Fontaine no 10 https://www.lausanne.ch/vie-pratique/loisirs/balades-et-visites/balades-et-sentiers/itineraires-joratois/fontaines-du-jorat

Fountain of the Coasts https://www.lausanne.ch/vie-pratique/loisirs/balades-et-visites/balades-et-sentiers/itineraires-joratois/fontaines-du-jorat