Town Hall

Address

Place de la Palud
1003 Lausanne

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In the centre of the square is the town’s oldest fountain, adorned with a statue representing justice. Close by, a clock presents the history of Vaud in animated scenes every hour from 9:00 to 19:00. On Wednesday and Saturday mornings this is the site of the country market, which also sets up shop in the neighbouring pedestrian streets. Every first Friday of the month, it plays host to a craft market. Typical cafes, boutiques and large, elegant shops complement what this high-class district, which is completely pedestrianised, has to offer.

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This is a quarter full of typical small bistros and craft shops. To the north of the Cité hill, at Place du Tunnel, avenue César-Roux avenue and Place de l’Ours, shops and quirky bistros cry out to be discovered. It is around the Cité hill, sculpted by the Flon and Louve rivers, that the mediaeval town grew. Its cobble-stoned pedestrian streets as well as its monuments, the Cathedral of Lausanne, the St-Maire Castle and the Old academy, bear witness to that.

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At the heart of the old town, the majestic Lausanne Cathedral overlooks the city. Seen as one of the most beautiful gothic art monuments in Europe, it attracts more than 400,000 visitors every year.

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An important place for the people of Lausanne, it served several functions: politically, it was both the home and symbol of the city’s power; economically, the halls of its ground floor housed the wheat market; defensively, the bells of its belfry warned of danger. Greatly admired since its creation, the Town Hall is the most interesting example of 17th century Vaud architecture. Its main facade has a particularly subtle composition. While the rows of bay windows and their frames form a clear and striking horizontal effect, the vertical axis, marked by the sculpted entrance and steeple, are implicitly strengthened by the cadence of the windows, continually closer together towards the middle, and the steadily narrower archways. As for the roof, it takes its aesthetic shape from the region’s country homes, giving a final provincial touch to one of the most original silhouettes.