Public gain access to park of Rachmaninoff villa in Lucerne

Park of Rachmaninoff villa in Hertenstein LU becomes accessible Keystone-SDA

Canton Lucerne is opening the park of Villa Senar in Hertenstein to the public from May 15. The Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff lived in the building on Lake Lucerne from 1932 to 1939.

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Canton Lucerne announced on Monday that a piece of 20th-century music and architectural history will be brought to life at Rachmaninoff’s former home. By opening the park, Lucerne is honouring a promise it made when it purchased the villa in 2022, cantonal politician Armin Hartmann said in a statement.

Villa Senar, built by Rachmaninoff in the 1930s, is located directly on Lake Lucerne in Hertenstein near Weggis. The villa and other buildings in the 20,000 square metre park have been a listed building since 2018. Rachmaninoff played an active role in designing the estate. He had the grounds modelled, the riverbank rock blasted and a 180-metre-long promenade laid out.

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The park is open from Thursday to Sunday from noon to 5pm. From June, a small café offers refreshments in fine weather on Sundays from 1pm to 5pm. The villa itself cannot be visited individually, but guided tours can be booked.

Visitors are requested to travel by boat to Weggis and then onwards by Lidobus or on a 20-minute walk from Hertenstein. There is no car park on site.

The site is now also part of the original locations of Museum Luzern, according to the press release. Guided tours, concerts and events are planned. On July 6, for example, there will be a guided walk through the park under the motto “Music meets architecture”.

Sergei Rachmaninoff lived from 1873 to 1943. The composer, pianist and conductor left Russia in 1917 and lived in exile until his death.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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