The story of this place
According to Swiss tradition, in early August 1291 representatives of the three forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden gathered on this lakeside meadow above Lake Lucerne and swore the Rütlischwur—a mutual defence pact against Habsburg overlords. The surviving Federal Charter of 1291 fixed the founding of the Swiss Confederation. Friedrich Schiller immortalised the oath in his 1804 play 'Wilhelm Tell,' and in 1940, as Nazi armies ringed Switzerland, General Henri Guisan summoned his officers here for the legendary Rütli Report, invoking the meadow to rally national resistance. The site remains sacred ground, reachable only by boat or footpath.