About Glacier Garden
Available: all year round.
Costs
Tell Pass/Swiss Travel Pass: FREE travel.
Half Fare Card: half price bus/boat travel.
Entrance payable locally: 15 Sfr per adult and 8 Sfr per child (6-16 years). FREE with the Swiss Travel Pass. 20% discount with the Tell Pass.
At the heart of Switzerland is Lucerne, and in the heart of Lucerne is the Glacier Garden. It is nature's own monument to history and an oasis of peace from busy Lucerne life. Potholes of impressive proportions bear witness to the last ice age and to the fact that Lucerne was once covered by glaciers. Conversely, fossilised mussels and palm leaves found in local rock strata indicate that some 20 million years ago, the area of Lucerne was a subtropical beach!
Highlights
Natural monument
Polished rock, glacial potholes and erratic blocks bear witness to the fact that Lucerne was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age. A marquee roof has been erected to protect the natural monument from the damaging effects of weathering and air pollution.
Observation tower
Go back 300 million years into the geological past. You pass the recreation of a glacial mill and the diorama of the Gorner glacier by Xaver Imfeld before climbing the observation tower, which will reward you with a magnificent view of Lucerne and Mount Pilatus.
Park
A green oasis within the busy city, the park of the Glacier Garden offers a relaxing and friendly environment featuring many alpine plants and ferns. This is where you will find a sunny spot for your picnic.
The museum
Highlights include the Million Year Show, the oldest mountain relief map in the world - created by Franz Ludwig Pfyffer in the 18th century - and the most recently added attraction, a modern interactive landscape relief of Central Switzerland.
Mirror Maze
This fantastic attraction was created in 1896 in the style of Granada's Alhambra for the Swiss National Exhibition. It has been at the Glacier Garden since 1899 and its 90 mirrors plays tricks with your mind! Although the corridors appear infinitely long, they are in effect quite short - so take your time walking through. Within the Mirror Maze and outside there are lots of mirror experiments and distorting mirrors to enjoy.
The famous Lion Monument
The Glacier Garden is only a stone's throw away from the Lion Monument, the oldest preserved figurative monument in Switzerland. It ranks alongside the famous Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) and the Museggtürme (Musegg towers) as one of the favourite tourist attractions in Lucerne.
The lion was carved into a former sandstone quarry wall from a design by B. Thorvaldsen. It represents the defeat of the Swiss Guard during the storming of the Tuileries Palace in 1792 during the French Revolution.
Directions
The Glacier Garden is in the centre of Lucerne. From Lucerne railway station and the Old Town it takes approximately 15 mintues to walk here. Alternatively you can take bus numbers 1,19, 22 or 23 to Löwenplatz.