St Peter’s Chapel, attached to Auckland Castle is rich with history and well worth a visit. On my visit a guide told us about the extensive history of the chapel but sadly a guidebook was not available and searching the internet does not easily reveal its treasures.

The original chapel was destroyed after the Civil War. After the Restoration of the Monarchy, Bishop Cosin rebuilt the castle and turned the banqueting hall into a chapel.  It is the largest private chapel in Europe. The side aisles were added by Bishop van Mildert in 1828. In the 1880s, Bishop Lightfoot added the heraldic shields and angels on the roof as well as the tinted stained glass windows and the carved oak reredos on a Frosterley marble plinth.

It is an impressive building with battlements, crocketted pinnacles and large stained glass windows.

Just before we depart from Lucerne and move onto Christmassy things I will show you St Peter’s Chapel which is the last place we visited on our day of departure.

St Peter’s Chapel is a Lucerne landmark and of considerable historical importance. It is Lucerne’s oldest church and was built in 1178 when a priest was appointed to take care of the population. Always subservient to the 8th century Benedictine St Leodegar monastery and the Hof Church, it never became the parish church.

Kapellplatz was named after St Peter’s and, more importantly, so was the city’s best known attraction, the nearby 14th century Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke). The chapel was for several hundred years the citizen’s meeting place and was subject to alterations in 1750.

The Kapellplatz surrounds tiny St. Peterskapelle, an 18th-century church that was built over a 12th-century predecessor. This chapel also lends its name to the Kapellbrücke, the charming wooden bridge synonymous with Lucerne.

The exterior walls of St. Peter’s are adorned with several interesting works of art. An alabaster carving of the Mount of Olives remains from the previous church building. The fresco of Brother Klaus dates from the late 19th century, and the painting of St. Christopher is from the early 20th century.