Page 195 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Switzerland

for a weekly market today. creative activities, is of prime
Kirchplatz (Church Square) importance to their humanity.
takes its name from the Steiner was strongly influ­ Did You Know?
Stadtkirche, a parish church enced by the writing of the
built in the Romanesque style German author Johann Swiss poet Erika
but with later Gothic and Wolfgang von Goethe and his Burkart (1922–2010),
Renaissance elements added. ideas live on in the world­wide winner of the Grosser
Niklaus­Thut­Platz is network of Waldorf schools. Schillerpreis, was
marked by a fountain with The Goetheanum, a huge born in Aarau.
a statue of the eponymous concrete building overlooking
Thut, hero of the Battle of Dornach, is the seat of the
Sempach fought in 1386, Anthroposophical Society,
when the Confederates which advocates the freedom canton of Aargau in 1803.
routed the Austrians. Among of the individual. Constructed Its wealth is derived from
the fine buildings surrounding in line with the principles the textiles industry.
the square are the Metzgern­ of this philosophy, it has no The town’s highest point
Zunfthaus (butchers’ guild right angles, and is widely is marked by Schlössli, a castle
house), dating from 1602, and regarded as the epitome of thought to date from the
the Baroque town hall with a Expressionist architecture. 11th century, which now
council chamber furnished in houses a museum of local
the Neo­Classical style. Goetheanum history. Other notable build­
"' ⌂ Rüttiweg 45 § 061 ings are the 16th­century
706 42 42 # 8am–10pm daily town hall with a Romanesque
7 tower and the 15th­century
Stadtkirche. Some of the
Dornach houses that line the narrow
8
! C2 £ @ ∑ dornach- Aarau streets of Aarau’s old districts
tourismus.ch have stepped gables and are
decorated with floral motifs.
! D2 n Metzgergasse 2;
The small town of Dornach, www.aarauinfo.ch The town also has a decent
on the southern outskirts of art gallery, the Aargauer
Basel, is the location of the Aarau has a scenic location Kunsthaus, with a fine col­
world centre of anthro­ on the River Aare. The old lection of modern paintings,
posophy. Founded in about part of the town is built on and an engaging museum
1912 by the Austrian­born terraces that rise steeply of natural history.
social philosopher and from the riverbank.
educator Rudolf Steiner Briefly the capital of the Aargauer Kunsthaus
(1861–1925), anthroposophy Helvetic Republic, Aarau "'-= ⌂ Aargauerplatz
holds that one’s spiritual became the capital of the # 10am–5pm Tue–Sun
development, nourished ∑ aargauerkunsthaus.ch
by myth­making and other

The Goetheanum in
Dornach, seat of the
Anthroposophical Society
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