The Elevation of the City of Lucerne, better known as the Schumacher Plan, dates back to 1790 and was drawn by Franz Xaver Schumacher (1755–1808). In 1792, Jakob Joseph Clausner engraved the work in copper.
While the Martini Plan impresses with its beauty and vibrancy, the Schumacher Plan stands out for its remarkable accuracy. It depicts the city of Lucerne with exceptional detail. For instance, the execution site at Senti and the executioner’s residence are drawn to scale—details that are barely visible in the Martini Plan.
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| Schumacher Plan Luzern 1790, Franz Xaver Schumacher (1755-1808) |
Franz Xaver Schumacher came from a patrician family in Lucerne and studied in Bologna and Modena during his youth. Later, he served the French crown, held positions as a councilor, officer, bailiff, and was a passionate scientist.
A Masterpiece of Cartography
In the lower left corner of the plan, the following explanation is provided:
“This drawing of all the buildings in the city of Lucerne is depicted à vue d’oiseau, or from above, recorded geometrically from a fixed point, extracted from the plan, and rendered with the utmost accuracy in terms of both the height of the buildings and the width of the streets. Consequently, the plan had to be expanded, which is why the ground plan itself is included for better reference.”
The Schumacher Plan is therefore drawn in a bird’s-eye perspective (three-dimensional), which slightly expands the city view. In the upper left corner, a small supplementary plan presents an exact geometric top-down (two-dimensional) view for comparison.
The Significance of the Plan in its Time
The legend of the Schumacher Plan lists numerous significant buildings, towers, streets, and squares of Lucerne, including the town hall, the Musegg towers, churches, bridges, and guild houses. Its detailed representation provides a deep insight into the city’s structure in the late 18th century.
Notably, the explanation contains strong French influences—a reflection of the aristocratic elite’s admiration for French culture and Enlightenment ideas at the time. However, this period also saw dramatic upheavals: the French Revolution (1789–1799), the storming of the Tuileries Palace (1792), and the end of military cooperation between France and Switzerland. Soon after, the French Invasion of 1798 marked the beginning of the Helvetic Republic, bringing profound political changes.
The Schumacher Plan remains a unique historical document—a cartographic masterpiece that captures Lucerne with unprecedented precision.
