Dornach House, Lucerne

As you stand in Hirschenplatz, you can't help noticing the richly decorated Neo-Gothic building known as Dornach House. Indeed, its façade is hard to miss, with elaborate architectural details and large Mannerist-style paintings covering the upper floors. The decorative scheme was created around 1900, with the façade paintings based on designs by Lucerne artist Seraphin Weingartner.

Take a moment to look up at the main façade. The paintings you'll see are not simply decorative - they tell the story of the Battle of Dornach. Among the figures, you can make out armed soldiers and scenes recalling the fighting that took place on July 22, 1499. There is also a painted commemorative panel between the windows, another reminder of the event that gave the house its name.

The Battle of Dornach was fought near the Swiss village of Dornach, where troops of the Old Swiss Confederacy decisively defeated the forces of Emperor Maximilian I. It was the final major clash of the Swabian War and the last armed conflict between the Swiss Confederacy and the Holy Roman Empire.

The victory effectively secured the Confederacy’s independence from imperial control. Just two months later, on September 22, 1499, the Treaty of Basel brought the war to an end and acknowledged the new political reality. Switzerland’s independence from the Holy Roman Empire, however, would not receive formal recognition until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

So, before moving on, give the façade another look. What appears at first to be an unusually colorful historic house is actually a large painted memorial to one of the defining military victories in Swiss history.