Lucerne, besides being one of the top travel destinations that you do not have to miss, has also some interesting museums.
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Its main museums are Alpineum 3D (Panorama of the Alps), the Gletschergarten (the Glacier Garden), the Swiss Museum of Transport, and the Museum Sammlung Rosengart (collection).
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My choice was to visit the Gletschergarten, or the Glacier Garden, as I visited many art museums like the Rosengart and also a transport museum in Leeds, UK. Being an explorer, I was attracted by something new and the perspective to visit the glacier traces was exciting. I’ve never seen before some geoparks like this.
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Thanks to the Visitor’s card provided by the hostel, you can get a discount for all the museums ( in this case from 12 to 10 CHF). This museum – geopark is included in the list of the National Natural Monument of Switzerland.
Here it happened that Joseph Wilhem Amrein-Troller was trying to build a cellar for his house but discovered this incredible site in 1872. He discovered entire portion of rocks marked by the presence of a glacier probably during the last Ice Age (the real one, not the movie), approx. 20,000 years ago.
The garden displays also the presence of some deep glacial potholes, one of 4 meters deep and with 4 meters diameter (Marmitta dei giganti), formed because of the impressive vortice of the water at the bottom of the glacier,
and the largest pothole, 9,5 meters deep with a diameter of 8 meters
Another section is the so-called Palm Beach, that was the proof of a sub-tropical climate 20 millions of years ago: you can see traces of fossilized sea shells,
palms leaves
and ripple marks
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After the garden you get to the Museum, interesting for the different sections. In fact you can find plastics of the Bernina region,
you can see how the temperatures can change a piece of stone, you can be an Ice Age man,
or see the impressive plastic of central Switzerland, made by General Pfyffer von Wyher in 1762-1786,
and the plastic of Lucerne year 1792.
Interesting things are also the images of the changes of climate that affect the glacier’s size
the interactive plastic of San Gottardo railway,
a skeleton of a marine dinosaur (Ceresiosaurus)
and the some rooms of the Amrein-Troller house.
Once you are outside of the museum, you can walk along the path to the Belvedere tower. First of all there´s the artificial Glacial Mill, that served to explain the old theory on how the glacial potholes should have been formed.
Another site you found is the old shelter of the Swiss Alpine Club with the diorama over the glacier Gorner
and in the end you get to the observation tower
Back to the central area of the Gletschergarten, the last thing to see is the Hall of Mirrors “Alhambra”, inspired to the famous fortification of Granada.
Let’s say that, if you have been like me to the Alhambra in Granada, this is not something special but anyway there’s a labyrinth of mirrors.
Going out of this fantastic instructional park, first of my travel highlights, how can I not take a pic of the natural monument?
and of the Dying Lion from another perspective?
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The time needed to visit this museum is approximately 1-2 hours but it is really worth and Diaries of an explorer recommends you to not miss it in your visit to Lucerne.
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You can find the full itinerary of Lucerne including the map in the summarized post here.
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Diaries of an explorer 
This is a great article. Lucerne is my favourite place in Switzerland. Thank you very much for these details!
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Thanks for stopping here and commenting! Yeah I agree with you, Lucerne so far is the best city visited also for me in Switzerland!
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Interesting!I see that you like to travel and explore Europe come and make a tourist walk and come in the Balkans, particularly in Skopje and Ohrid Republic of Macedonia, two largest cities in size with ample cultural and natural monuments, various sites etc.I challenge you come and visit my home country.
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Interesting!I see that you like to travel and explore Europe come and make a tourist walk and come in the Balkans, particularly in Skopje and Ohrid Republic of Macedonia, two largest cities in size with ample cultural and natural monuments, various sites etc.I challenge you come and visit my home country.
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Thanks Tim for the comment! Yes my purpose is to visit all the countries in the world so Skopje and Macedonia will be for sure in the future a destination…well I will contact you when I will decide to come there and ask you for more info…no one gives you better info like a local, better than a touristic guide! :-)I started this blog in June: so many countries visited in the past are not here but I will try to cover them: having still the pictures you can still build a nice story! 🙂
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