Church of St. Leodegar, Catholic church building in Lucerne, Switzerland

The Church of St. Leodegar is a Catholic church in Lucerne whose west facade combines Gothic towers, a Renaissance central section and a Baroque gable. The two 69-metre towers have square bases, louvered Gothic windows and steep octagonal spires; between them sit a clock and a statue niche. Inside, ribbed vaults rest on massive square pillars above dark wooden pews, with a carved pulpit and a gilded high altar.

A monastery dedicated to Saint Maurice stood here from 735, first documented as Monasterium Luciaria around 760. Around 850 Abbot Wichard placed it under the Benedictine rule, and by 1135 it was a provostry dependent on Murbach Abbey, which imposed Saint Leodegar as patron. In 1455 it became a secular college of canons. After a roofer's shots set the Romanesque basilica ablaze on Easter Sunday 1633, Jakob Kurrer rebuilt it by 1639.

The church is dedicated to Saint Leodegar, chosen as patron by Murbach Abbey in the 12th century, and to Saint Maurice, to whom the original 8th-century abbey was consecrated. The west facade shows both patrons flanking the cantonal coat of arms, and the entrance doors repeat them in carved form. Since 1874 the building has served as both a parish church and the collegiate church of the St. Leodegar foundation.

The west facade mixes three building periods: Gothic towers, a Renaissance central section and a Baroque gable. Look above the doorway for the city coat of arms framed by Saints Leodegar and Maurice, and note the dragon-head gargoyles at the tower corners. The north tower carries a lily cross, the south tower a weathercock.

The two medieval towers stand 69 metres high on a square base nine metres wide, and their waterspouts are carved as dragon heads. The north tower carries a lily cross above its golden orb, the south tower a rooster on the wind indicator. Eight bells hang in the towers, weighing from 700 kilograms to 5.25 tonnes, with four more in the small choir turret.