| Glarus
Glarus, capital of the canton of the same name, is located in the Linth Valley at the foot of Glärnisch, a peak in the Glarus Alps. The town was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1861, a fire fanned by a violent foehn, the warm wind from the south that creeps through the passes and valleys of the Alps. As a result, very few of the old buildings remain and, as the town was rebuilt in a checkerboard pattern, it unfortunately lacks the charm of other towns in central Switzerland. A pity, because it is set in a beautiful mountain landscape and there is no shortage of hiking opportunities in the surrounding area. There is a very beautiful church where you can see a model of the town as it was before its destruction, there are some beautiful houses here and there, a very nice park on the station square and, above all, the station itself, a building with a rather improbable architecture. Glarus being, with that of Appenzell Innerrhoden, the last canton where the Landsgemeinde, an ancestral form of direct democracy where one votes by show of hands, is practiced, one expects more local colour, but the Zaunplatz, the large square where the Landsgemeine is held every year on the first Sunday of May, is mainly used as a car park... It's a pity, because Glarus, despite its coldness as a city of the industrial age, could have found a great deal of soul here! |
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