Place de la Palud

Lausanne


In the heart of the Vieille Ville (Old Town), this pretty as a picture 9th-century medieval market square, was once bogland. For five centuries it has been home to the city government, now housed in the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville (town hall). Opposite, you'll find the Fontaine de la Justice, from where, atop a brightly painted column, the allegorical figure of Justice herself, clutching scales and dressed in blue, presides over the square.

Bear left along Rue Mercière to pick up Escaliers du Marché, a timber-canopied staircase with a tiled roof that heads up to Rue Pierre Viret and beyond to the Cathédrale de Notre Dame.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Lausanne attractions

1. Hôtel de Ville

0.01 MILES

Offices of the City of Lausanne are housed in the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville and whilst you can pop your head in the foyer for a snoop, it's not open to…

2. Fontaine de la Justice

0.03 MILES

Sculpted by Laurent Perroud between 1584 and 1585, this striking fountain features a statue of a blindfolded woman bearing a sword and scales with four…

3. Escaliers du Marché

0.06 MILES

This timber-canopied staircase with tiled roof heads up the hill from Pl de la Palud to Rue Pierre Viret and beyond to the cathedral.

4. Musée Historique de Lausanne

0.11 MILES

Until the 15th century, the city’s bishops resided in this lovely manor across from the cathedral (after which it became a jail, then a court, then a…

6. Cathédrale de Notre Dame

0.13 MILES

Lausanne’s Gothic cathedral, Switzerland’s finest, stands proudly at the heart of the Old Town. Raised in the 12th and 13th centuries on the site of…

7. Palais de Rumine

0.13 MILES

This robust neo-Renaissance palace (1904) was designed by Gaspard André. In 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed here, finalising the break-up of the…

8. Château St Maire

0.23 MILES

Built between 1400 and 1430, Lausanne's hilltop château is thought to have been designed by Italian masters from the Aosta Valley, such are its…