Interview: Architekt Mario Botta entwirft das Mineralbad & Spa Rigi ...

jUBILEE
175 years of
steam navigation Nostalgische
2012 marks the 175th anniversary
of steam navigation on Lake Lucerne.
Since 1837 paddle steamers
have been used to transport goods
and people over the lake. A proud
tradition with a bright future! Join
SGV in celebrating this remarkable
jubilee.
46 Bordmagazin
Early years
It all started in December 1835,
when the merchant Casimir Friedrich
Knörr surprised the people of
Lucerne by announcing his intention
to operate a shipping company
on the lake. He successfully implemented
his plans a little less than
two years later, when the paddle
steamer “Stadt Luzern I” made its
maiden voyage on 24 September
1837. The vessel impressed many
people with its voluminous dimensions
and formidable appearance.
Only the old shipping guilds feared
for their existence and pressured
the government officials from Canton
Uri into prohibiting the landing
of the steamboat. A few years later,
the guilds from Uri established
their own company and launched
their first steamer “Waldstätter” in
1847. Fierce competition resulted
for the next two decades.
Transitional times
By 1870 the two companies were
ready to evolve and formally
merged. Thanks to the growing
volume of passenger and freight
Dampferflotte. Nostalgic
traffic over the Gotthard route, the
opening of the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn
in 1871 and the general development
of tourism in the region,
the unified shipping company was
able to use its new-found monopoly
position and thrived during the
Belle Époque. Only the two World
Wars and the economic depression
in the 1930s were able to stop this
prolonged boom. After World War
II the company followed the signs
of the times and made major efforts
to modernise and adapt the
fleet. New motor vessels were built
at the shipyard in Lucerne, while
the boilers of the previously coalfired
paddle steamers were converted
to oil-firing. In 1960 the
present company name and threeletter
moniker SGV was adapted.
Coinciding with the rapid changes
in society as well as the triumph of
the automobile in the second half
of the 20th century, the services of
the shipping company also underwent
a dynamic transformation
and grew in their scope and depth,
becoming ever more focused
around tourism and leisure time.