As a result of her genealogy work, Mo tracked
down the village where a set of her paternal great-great grandparents
were born.The town of Buochs sits on a "finger" of Lake
Lucerne. Buochs seems more residential than some of the other
resort towns on the lake, though there is a small "Grand
Hotel" facing the lake front across from the ferry dock.
Most of the waterfront is a nicely landscaped pedestrian boardwalk.
When we visited at 6pm on a Sunday, a number of people and families
were hanging out on the promenade enjoying the weather and of
course, the view.
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A couple of blocks in fron the
lake, houses and streets follow a steep slope (think San Francisco)
to the hill atop which the church and cemetery sit. But perhaps
the most intriguing part of the visit was finding this statue
paying homage to the Swiss artist Johann Melchior Wyrsch, a renowned
artist, most of religious paintings and portraiture. Wyrsch is
the surname of Mo's Swiss ancestors--it's a very rare name in
the world, and most of them live in this part of Switzerland.
Wyrsch the artist was a native of Buochs, and Mo's ancestors likely
descended from him or his family.
This is a statue of Wyrsch, brush and palette in
hand, that sits in a little garden area adjacent to the Roman Catholic
Church (St. Martin of Buochs).The dedication reads "The Greatest
of Painters, Johann Melchior Wyrsch of Buochs, 1732-1798". Historically,
the French army invaded that part of Switzerland in 1798, slaughtering
most all of the adult men of the towns in that area near Lucerne (including
Wyrsch). They also burnt down the church (in which he had numerous paintings,
for his specialty was religious works for churchs and cathedrals).
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Click Next for more photos of Buochs....
