SCHWEIZ / SUISSE / SVIZZERA / SVIZRA	SWITZERLAND
Schwyz / Schwytz / Svitto / Sviz

map →

Küssnacht (official name until 31 December 2003: Küssnacht am Rigi) is situated at an elevation of 445 m at the foot of the Rigi mountain between Lake Luzerne and Lake Zug in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, about 18 km northwest of the canton's capital, Schwyz. The municipality has a population of about 14,000 (2023)

Chussenacho was first mentioned in a written document dating from AD 840, though this is from an 11th century copy of the original document. In 1179 it was mentioned as Chussenacho. The name is believed to have originated in the 7th or 8th cantury. In the early medieval period, Küssnacht was owned by the monastery of Luzern, other early landowners were the counts of Lenzburg and Habsburg. The Lenzburg portion went to the Beromünster monastery in 1036, and the Habsburg property went to the Muri monastery in 1055. As the bailiffs of Lucerne, the Habsburgs also owned the Lucerne Dinghof. When Lucerne was detached from Habsburg rule in the 14th century, Lucerne's influence in Küssnacht became dominant. The local bailiffs, the lords of Küssnacht, died out in 1352. Their castle became known as the "Gesslerburg". Towards the end of the 14th century, Lucerne's influence waned in favour of Schwyz. A customs office had existed in Schwyz since 1383. In 1424, the people of Küssnacht swore a land law with Schwyz. Küssnacht retained its own council and lower jurisdiction and was thus a self-governing community under the sovereignty of Schwyz. In 1831 the district joined the short-lived liberal canton of Ausserschwyz.

According to the legend of the fictional Wilhelm Tell, the hero shot the, equally fictitional, Austrian bailiff Gessler at the Hohle Gasse near the Gesslerburg with his crossbow, leading to the evenatual independence of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

On 29 August 1935, Queen Astrid of the Belgians was killed here in a road accident. A memorial chapel was built at the accident scene. In 1989, the chapel was demolished by youths, to be restored later that year.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCssnacht_SZ, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCssnacht]