Switzerland - Saint-Ursanne

Saint-Ursanne is one of the jewels of the Swiss Jura. The medieval town is situated on the banks of the river Doubs at the foot of a rocky mountain ridge.

According to legend, the little town of St-Ursanne was founded at the end of the 6th century by the Irish monk Ursicinus, who lived as a hermit on this isolated spot. His hermitage within a cave can be reached by climbing 180 steep steps. Between 623 and 635 a first monastery community was founded. Around 1100 it was converted into a canons chapter.

Saint-Ursanne has conserved its medieval character (PiP1). Among the most important buildings in the centre are the collegiate church and its cloister (PiP4) built in the 12th and 13th centuries. Other parts of the old town contain heritage buildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Even today, the town can only be accessed through one of the three historic gates. The ‘Porte Saint-Pierre’ is decorated with ‘La Berbatte’ (PiP3), a clock installed early in the 18th century.

The four-arched stone bridge (PiP2) over the river, built in 1728, awards a particularly splendid view of the picturesque town and its environs. A sandstone statue made in 1729 of St. John of Nepomuk, a protector against floods, stands on the bridge.