City Tour of Schaffhausen

The folding card which can be used for the quiz is available in the old city churches or Schaffhausen Touristinfo. You can also print it out yourself here: www.natourpark.ch.

Public city tours with historian Laurent Oberson, can be booked at www.schaffhauserland.ch
Project of the Nature Park of Schaffhausen and the Association of Evangelical Reformed Parishes of the city of Schaffhausen.

GPX-data to download

Données GPX à télécharger
Trail of Huguenots and Waldansians
Italiano / Deutsch / Français

There were severe persecutions in France and Piemont under King Louis XIV and his nephew Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy. Their guiding principle „one king, one kingdom, one religion“ left no toleration for reformed belief. Ten thousand believers had to flee. The European Cultural Route „In the footsteps of the Huguenots and Waldensians“ follows them from Southern France and Italy across Switzerland to Germany.

Cultural Renewal
The Waldensians go back to an older reform movement and were only allowed to settle in the Waldensian valleys in Piemont. They joined the Reformation in 1535. Through their flight and trade relations they spread southern culture throughout Europe: vegetables, fruits, herbs, also handicraft techniques (textile printing, watch making, gold and silversmith work) up to courtly luxuries such as silk loves, millinery and stockings.

For more than 20 years, beginning in 1683, hundreds and thousands of religious refugees arrived in Schaffhausen. They were fed, given medical care, provided with a travel allowance and sent on. „Searching for Huguenot signs in Schaffhausen“ we find a mixed group of noble ladies and gentlemen, artisans, tradesmen and ministers, farmers, children and also soldiers. Where did they come from? How did people react to them? What did they want?
At the end of the search the hidden word will lead us to local shop discounts on gourmet products and souvenirs.

Route information
Start at the Schaffhausen cloister. Go through the Munster cloister to St. Anna Kapelle (1) and the Herb Garden (closed at night). Pass the City Library on the left and go up to the Vordergasse. Go around the city church St. Johann (2) and across the parking space to the retirement home at the Kirchhofplatz (3). Continue to the Webergasse and into the Vorstadt (4, 5). Turn left in the direction of Fronwaagplatz. Just before coming to the Mohrenbrunnen there is a passageway through the „Grosses Haus“ (closed nights and Sundays). At the other end you come to a stucco medallion (6). Back through the Stadthausgasse to Fronwagplatz (7) and uo to the Herrenacker (8, 9) finally arriving for a visit in the Museum zu Allerheiligen (10) ( All Saints Museum). Have fun!