Rapperswil-Jona
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Below you find the historical tales of Rapperswil-Jona — from old legends to famous local events. Create a free account, pick one as your starting point, your child takes a role inside it.
Historical tales from Rapperswil-Jona
Real stories from the past of Rapperswil-Jona — pick one and your child takes a role
The deer who founded a city
Retold from the deer's perspective: chased by hounds along the lakeshore, saved by kind Countess Mechthild, then gratefully choosing the castle hill as home. When the deer lays its head in Mechthild's lap, Count Rudolf takes it as a divine sign and builds a castle — and a city is born from an act of mercy.
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According to legend, Count Rudolf of Altendorf and Countess Mechthild were hunting when their dogs chased a deer into a cave on the promontory. Mechthild persuaded Rudolf to spare the deer calves. At midday the deer returned and laid its head in her lap — Rudolf took this as a divine sign and decided to build a castle and town. The deer park on the castle hill has housed fallow deer since 1871. The Counts of Rapperswil relocated from Altendorf to the new settlement around 1200-1220.
Walking across the lake
A child crosses the wooden bridge and at the Heilig Hüsli chapel, slips through time to walk alongside medieval pilgrims heading to Einsiedeln. Along the way, they encounter Bronze Age lake dwellers beneath the water and discover that people have been crossing this narrow point for over 4,000 years.
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The Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden is an 841-metre wooden pedestrian bridge — the longest in Switzerland. People have crossed at this narrow point for millennia: remains date to the Horgen culture (3rd millennium BC), Bronze Age (1523 BC), Hallstatt period (647 BC), Roman era (AD 165), and Early Middle Ages (AD 741). These structures are part of the UNESCO World Heritage 'Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps'. The Heilig Hüsli, a tiny bridge chapel first mentioned in 1485, provided refuge for pilgrims on the Jakobsweg.
The roses that remember
Each of the 600 rose varieties in Rapperswil holds a memory from the town's history. A child who can 'listen' to roses discovers stories from the castle, the monastery, and the old town — and learns why the City of Roses has been blooming for over a century, with 16,000 bushes painting the hillside in colour.
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Rapperswil has been called the Rosenstadt (City of Roses) for over a century, with more than 16,000 rose bushes of over 600 varieties. The House of Rapperswil's coat of arms shows three roses; the city adopted two roses, first documented on the 1306 city seal. Four public rose gardens adorn the old town, including a Duftrosengarten (Fragrant Rose Garden, 1984) — the only rose garden for the blind in Switzerland, with Braille guide panels. In 1959, gardener Dietrich Wössener planted most of the current varieties.
Poland's treasure in the castle
A child finds a mysterious old painting in the castle and learns about Count Plater, the Polish exiles, and why a small Swiss town became the guardian of a nation's memory. The most heartbreaking discovery: 95% of the collection was lost when it was sent to Warsaw and destroyed in World War II.
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In 1868, Polish Count Władysław Broel-Plater erected the Bar Column on the Lindenhügel. In 1870, he founded the Polish National Museum in the castle as 'a refuge for Poland's historic memorabilia'. By 1927, the museum held approximately 3,000 artworks, 92,000 books, and 27,000 documents. After Poland regained independence, the collections were transported to Warsaw — roughly 95% were destroyed during World War II. The museum was re-established after 1952 and continues today, supported by figures including writer Gottfried Keller.
Eis, Zwei, Geissebei!
A child travels back to 1350 during the siege of Rapperswil, when wealthy citizens handed food through windows to hungry neighbours. Centuries later, the tradition lives on: every Shrove Tuesday at exactly 15:15, sausages, bread, and gingerbread rain from the town hall windows onto cheering children below.
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Eis-zwei-Geissebei ('one, two, goat-leg') is a Carnival tradition held on Shrove Tuesday. It may date to 24 February 1350, when Zurich's mayor Rudolf Brun attacked Rapperswil and citizens handed food through windows during the siege. Today: after the council dinner, a council member calls 'Sind alli mini Buebe doo?' (Are all my boys here?), children shout 'Ja! Eis, zwei, Geissebei!', and for 30 minutes sausages, bread rolls, and Biberli rain from the town hall windows.
The circus comes to town
Set in 1962, a child befriends the Knie family as they build their children's zoo in Rapperswil. The child helps care for baby elephant Sahib-Fridolin — the first Asian elephant ever born in Switzerland — and discovers that a circus family's greatest act is not performed under a tent, but in the bond between animals and people.
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The Knie family traces its circus origins to 1803 and settled in Rapperswil in 1907. On 10 June 1962, brothers Fredy and Rolf Knie Sr. inaugurated Knies Kinderzoo. On 15 February 1963, Sahib-Fridolin became the first Asian elephant born in Switzerland. In 1976, the zoo had a record 399,331 visitors. The Knie circus, known as the Swiss National Circus, began with Friedrich Knie's company of rope dancers and acrobats.
The Roman harbour at Kempraten
A child discovers a Roman coin at the lakeshore and is transported to the bustling vicus of Centum Prata, where traders, boatmen, and mysterious Mithras worshippers cross paths at the busiest harbour on the upper lake. The child must return the coin before the archaeologists arrive in the morning.
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The Gallo-Roman vicus of Centum Prata ('100 meadows', giving the name Kempraten) is the most important Roman site in Canton St. Gallen. It was a stage town at the intersection of Roman roads and a transshipment harbour. Excavations from 2009 to 2013 revealed a Mithraeum (temple to Mithras), a Gallo-Roman sanctuary to Mater Magna, over 500 coins, and lead curse tablets. The vicus measured roughly 300 x 200 metres with stone buildings, forums, and baths.
The castle's three towers
Each of the castle's three towers holds a secret from a different era: the Counts of Rapperswil founding the castle in 1229, the Habsburgs rebuilding it as a show of power in 1352, and the Polish exiles filling it with a nation's memory in 1870. A child must solve all three riddles to unlock the castle's heart.
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Schloss Rapperswil was built c. 1200-1220 by Count Rudolf II and his son Rudolf III, first documented in 1229. It formed a nearly equilateral triangle with three towers. In 1350, Zurich's mayor Rudolf Brun attacked and destroyed it. Duke Albrecht II of Habsburg-Austria rebuilt it on the original ruins, creating an 'ostentatious facade' facing Switzerland. In 1442, after the extinction of the Habsburg-Laufenburg line, the castle passed to the citizens. Since 1870, it has housed the Polish National Museum.
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