Discovering Murten - history comes to life

I first discovered the small medieval city of Murten last year, thanks to fellow ZIWA member Amy Eber who also found the place by chance, and loved it so much she and her husband took an apartment there, right in the middle of the medieval town centre. The Discovering Zürich & Switzerland group had a guided tour there last week, and learnt more about its history and present-day culture. If you’ve never been, make a point to visit this summer. It can be reached by train via Bern or Neuchatel, or you can take a boat trip on the Drei-Seen-Fahrt from Biel via the lake of Neuchatel to the Murtensee.

Our guide to Murten was Beatrice Magnin-Riedi, a bilingual French/German speaker who also spoke perfect English, whom we met at the small castle just inside the city walls. The view over the Murtensee was splendid, although clouds obscured the mountain of Vully and the wine terraces until later in the day. The Romans passed through here as did the Helvetii, and the town is one of several surrounding and protecting the city of Bern. German and French are taught in schools and we learnt that the University of Fribourg in the cantonal capital hold all its courses in both languages.  The city of Murten was established in 1238, and Peter of Savoy conquered it in 1255; the Savoyards ruled until 1476 when the Battle of Murten took place. Savoy is unusual in having had several women leaders and there is still a predominance of women working in the court building opposite the castle, and there has also been a recent tradition of women presidents in the Gemeinde, a fact that struck a chord with our women’s group.

Murten has retained its medieval buildings, even though cars clutter the cobbled streets of the centre, and the town holds many traditional festivals. One of these is the ‘slow up’ 20 km. walk around the lake every October. There is a carnival in March, flea markets in June, the ‘Solennität’ youth festival commemorating the Battle of Murten, and a Christmas market. There are no electric street lights in the town and the old coats of arms and shop signs have been retained everywhere.  There is a grid of old streets with alleyways or Graben in between, where the fire service had access and rubbish used to be thrown out. Overshoes were de rigeur in those days. The reformer Calvin had 30 people burnt on account of the plague in the 16^th century.  The witch tower still exists where women suspected of being too clever or having moles on their skin were tortured and beheaded or burnt. Nowadays as then the cellars and ground floors could be used for business while the upper floors were residential.

It is also possible to climb up onto the city wall and see the view over the rooftops, with their distinctive tiles. Outside the walls, the Catholic church of St. Mauritius is located, and inside it we discovered very modern stain glass windows designed by a local artist in 1977. Murten today thrives from four types of business – tourism, local shops and crafts, small industry and farming.  One curiosity is the former clock from the old city hall which has been restored to its former design and chimes the quarter hours and the hours. In the arcaded shops reminiscent of Bern one can buy local products including the famous Nidelkuchen.

There are numerous restaurants and cafes in Murten where one can enjoy lunch inside or out. We chose the Murtenhof, with its terrace overlooking the lake, and afterwards walked down to the boat landing stage to take the boat across the lake of Murten. On sunny days it’s very pleasant to take a picnic beside the lake and enjoy the water sports. The boat to Biel crosses the Murtensee and glides through the Broye canal to the Lake of Neuchatel. The sun shone on us for this pleasant journey and from there, after a steep climb to the station, the direct train takes you back to Zurich.

Murten Tourist Office links: 

http://www.murtentourismus.ch/en/navpage_list-DestinationsFR-MurtenFR.html

http://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/arc_jurassien/morat.html

The Solenittat festival:

http://www.murtentourismus.ch/en/navpage-EventsFR-MainEventsFR-203745.html

Julia Newton, 31 May 2012