Lützelau

Lützelau

Lützelau as seen from the Etzel mountain, Ufenau to the left
Geography
Location	Lake Zürich
Highest elevation	414 m (1,358 ft)
Administration
Switzerland
Canton	Schwyz
District	Höfe

Lützelau (Old High German: little island) is an island located, with the neighbouring island of Ufenau, in Lake Zürich in Switzerland between Rapperswil (1.6 km (0.99 mi) away) and Freienbach (3 km (1.9 mi) away).

Lützelau lies in Höfe district in the Canton of Schwyz. Since the 13th/14th centuries, it has belonged to the community of Rapperswil (now called Ortsbürgergemeinde). The island measures 33,480 m² (360,400 sq ft) in all, 430 m (1,410 ft) from east to west and 150 m (490 ft) from north to south. The highest point of the island is 414 m (1,358 ft) above sea level or 8 m (26 ft) above lake level at 406 m (1,332 ft).

On occasion of the formation of the Alps, the fossilized sediments material of the body of water between the Ricken and Etzel chains unfolded. There arose the typical rock bands that form the Lindenhof hill in Rapperswil, or the islands of Ufnau, Lützelau and Heilighüsli. During the last Ice Age the island was under a thick layer of ice, and the hard layers of conglomerate rock and the sandstone ridge survived the sanding by the glacier.

First mentioned in the year 741, there was formerly a nunnery here, given by the Alamannic noblewoman Beata, daughter of Rachinbert and wife of Landolt. In the year 744, the nunnery, or abbey, was sold to Einsiedeln Abbey. Historians mention a 10th-century ferry station assumably at the so-called Einsiedlerhaus in Rapperswil – in 981 AD as well as the vineyard on the Lindenhof hill – between Kempraten on lake shore, Lützelau and Ufenau island and assumably present Hurden, which allowed the pilgrims towards Einsiedeln to cross the lake before the prehistoric bridge at the Seedamm isthmus was re-built in 1358.