fwo_1145974 - SWITZERLAND - CANTON OF LUCERNE 2 1/2 Batzen 1815

SWITZERLAND - CANTON OF LUCERNE

The city grew around the Benedictine monastery founded in 750. It joined the Swiss Confederation as the fourth member in 1332. Lucerne, which remained the capital of Catholicism in Switzerland until the 19th century, had an oligarchic government which was overthrown in 1798, when the French arrived and seized the city. It becomes at one time the capital of the Helvetic Republic. Restored to its cantonal integrity by Bonaparte's act of mediation in 1803, Lucerne regained its independence in December 1813.