Introduction
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Welcome to Aarau, the capital of Canton Aargau and a city that holds a singular distinction in Swiss history. For a brief but remarkable period in 1798, this modest town on the River Aare served as the very first capital of the Helvetic Republic, making it, for a handful of months, the most important city in all of Switzerland.
But Aarau's appeal extends far beyond that fleeting moment of political glory. This is a town of painted eaves. Nowhere else in Switzerland will you find such a concentration of beautifully decorated roof undersides, the so-called Dachhimmel, literally meaning "roof heavens." As you walk through the narrow lanes of the old town, crane your neck upward and you will discover an open-air gallery of Baroque and Rococo artistry adorning the soffits and eaves of centuries-old houses.
Today's walk will guide you through approximately two and a half kilometres of Aarau's historic core. We will trace the city's origins from its founding by the Counts of Kyburg around 1240, wander beneath its celebrated painted gables, explore the dignified government quarter, pause at the medieval church that has anchored this community for seven hundred years, and stroll along the serene banks of the Aare. The terrain is flat and the walk is easy, suitable for visitors of all ages.
Let us begin at the Bahnhof, Aarau's railway station, and step into a medieval world hiding in plain sight.
Chapter 1: From the Station to the Old Town Gate
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GPS Waypoint: Aarau Bahnhof -- 47.3912, 8.0513
As you exit Aarau's railway station, you are standing on ground that has been reshaped dramatically over the centuries. The station area, modernised in the early 2000s, gives little hint of the medieval town that awaits just a few hundred metres to the west. Walk along Bahnhofstrasse toward the old town.
Aarau sits at a strategic crossing point of the River Aare, and it was precisely this geographic advantage that led the Counts of Kyburg to establish a fortified settlement here in the mid-thirteenth century. The Kyburgs were one of the great noble families of medieval Switzerland, and their territories stretched across much of what is now northeastern Switzerland. When their line died out in 1264, the Habsburgs inherited their lands, and Aarau became a Habsburg town.
As you approach the old town, notice how the street pattern changes. The regular, wide avenues of the nineteenth-century expansion give way to narrower, curving lanes. This is the threshold of medieval Aarau. The town was originally enclosed by walls and had just two main gates: the Obertor to the east and the Untertor to the west. While the physical gates are long gone, removed during nineteenth-century modernisation, the street names and the sudden narrowing of passages still mark their locations.
Continue westward along the Rathausgasse, which will bring you into the heart of the old town.
Chapter 2: The Painted Eaves -- Aarau's Dachhimmel
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GPS Waypoint: Rathausgasse -- 47.3922, 8.0472
Stop here in the middle of the Rathausgasse and look up. You are now standing beneath one of the finest collections of painted eaves in all of Europe. This is what makes Aarau architecturally unique: the Dachhimmel.
The tradition dates primarily to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when prosperous burghers commissioned artists to decorate the wooden undersides of their projecting roof eaves. These overhanging roofs, a practical feature designed to shed rain away from the timber-framed facades below, became canvases for extraordinary artistry.
The painted themes are wonderfully diverse. Some display purely ornamental designs: floral arabesques, scrollwork, and geometric patterns in vivid colours. Others depict allegorical scenes drawn from classical mythology. You may spot figures of the four seasons, representations of the virtues, or playful putti cavorting among clouds. A few display the coats of arms and trade symbols of the families who lived beneath them, offering a visual census of the town's former merchant class.
Walk slowly along both sides of the street and observe the variations. No two Dachhimmel are alike. Some have been meticulously restored, their colours almost startlingly bright against the grey stone and aged timber of the buildings. Others have faded to gentle pastels, lending them an air of quiet antiquity. More than seventy houses in the old town retain their painted eaves, the highest concentration found anywhere in the country.
The restoration of these fragile artworks has been an ongoing project for decades. The damp Swiss climate is unkind to exposed paint on wood, and several generations of conservators have worked to preserve this unique heritage. Look for the small plaques on restored buildings that credit the restoration campaigns.
Proceed further along the Rathausgasse toward the Rathaus itself.
Chapter 3: The Rathaus and the Birth of Modern Switzerland
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GPS Waypoint: Rathaus (Town Hall) -- 47.3925, 8.0458
The Aarau Rathaus, or Town Hall, stands before you with the understated dignity typical of Swiss civic architecture. The current building dates from the early sixteenth century, though it has been modified and expanded several times. Its ground-floor arcade, open to the street, once sheltered market stalls and public gatherings.
It was in this building and its surroundings that one of the most dramatic chapters of Swiss history unfolded. In the spring of 1798, French revolutionary forces under General Guillaume Brune swept into Switzerland, overthrowing the Old Confederacy and establishing the Helvetic Republic. Aarau was chosen as the capital of this new, centralised state, and on April 12, 1798, the first session of the Helvetic legislature convened here.
The choice of Aarau was partly geographic, sitting roughly at the centre of the new republic, and partly political, as a smaller, less contentious city than Bern or Zurich. The Helvetic Republic attempted to impose French revolutionary principles of centralisation, equality, and secularism on a deeply conservative, federalist Switzerland. It was an experiment doomed from the start.
Aarau's time as capital lasted only until September 1798, when the government relocated to Lucerne. But those few months left an indelible mark on the town's identity. You will find references to 1798 throughout Aarau, from street names to museum exhibitions to the quiet pride that residents take in their city's unexpected brush with national destiny.
Walk past the Rathaus and continue to the Kirchplatz.
Chapter 4: The Stadtkirche and Kirchplatz
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GPS Waypoint: Stadtkirche -- 47.3928, 8.0447
The Stadtkirche, Aarau's main parish church, rises above the Kirchplatz with a handsome late-Gothic tower that has defined the town's skyline for five centuries. The church was built between 1471 and 1478, replacing an earlier structure, and its tower, completed slightly later, stands as the most prominent vertical element in the old town.
Step inside if the church is open. The interior was significantly reworked during the Reformation, when Aarau embraced Protestantism in 1528 under the influence of Bern. The elaborate Catholic decorations were stripped away, replaced by the austere whitewashed walls and clear glass windows that characterised Reformed worship spaces. Some traces of the medieval church survive, however, including elements of the ribbed vaulting and the proportions of the nave, which still carry the spatial ambition of the late-Gothic builders.
The stained glass windows you see today are largely twentieth-century additions, but they are fine works in their own right. Look for the window by the Swiss artist Felix Hoffmann, whose luminous designs draw on both traditional iconography and modern abstraction.
In the Kirchplatz outside, you are standing at what was once the spiritual and social centre of medieval Aarau. Public announcements were read here, festivals celebrated, and the rhythms of civic life marked by the ringing of the church bells. The surrounding buildings, many with their painted eaves intact, form one of the most picturesque squares in the Swiss Mittelland.
Chapter 5: The Government Quarter and Cantonal History
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GPS Waypoint: Regierungsgebaeude -- 47.3930, 8.0435
Walk north from the Kirchplatz to reach the government quarter of Canton Aargau. Aarau has been the cantonal capital since Aargau was established as a canton in 1803, as part of Napoleon's Act of Mediation which reorganised Switzerland after the failure of the Helvetic Republic.
Canton Aargau itself is a fascinating political creation. It was assembled from several previously separate territories: the old Habsburg lands of the Lower Aargau, the former Bernese Aargau, the County of Baden, and the Freiamt. These regions had different histories, different confessional affiliations, some Catholic and some Reformed, and different political traditions. Welding them into a single canton was a deliberate act of political engineering, and the tensions between the parts shaped Aargau's political life for much of the nineteenth century.
The cantonal government buildings, clustered here in a dignified neoclassical and historicist ensemble, represent the physical expression of Aargau's cantonal identity. The Grossratsgebaeude, where the cantonal parliament meets, is worth noting for its restrained architectural authority. Aargau is today one of the most populous cantons in Switzerland, with over seven hundred thousand residents, and its capital reflects this status with a governmental infrastructure that belies the modest size of the town itself.
Chapter 6: The Aare Riverfront
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GPS Waypoint: Aare Promenade -- 47.3935, 8.0440
Continue north to reach the Aare, the river that gives Aarau its name and shapes its geography. The Aare is the longest river entirely within Switzerland, flowing 295 kilometres from the glaciers of the Bernese Oberland to its confluence with the Rhine near Koblenz. At Aarau, it runs broad and steady, its blue-green waters reflecting the willows and lindens that line its banks.
The riverside promenade is one of Aarau's great pleasures. Walk eastward along the water's edge and enjoy the tranquil atmosphere. On warm summer days, locals swim in the river, a Swiss tradition that visitors find both charming and slightly alarming. The current is gentle here, and designated swimming areas make the practice safe, but it remains an authentically Swiss experience.
Notice the old town from the river side. From this vantage point, you can see how the medieval settlement was positioned defensively above the riverbank. The walls of the old houses, some built directly above the river, served as part of the town's fortifications. The view upward toward the Stadtkirche tower, framed by the rooftops of the old town, is one of the classic images of Aarau.
A covered wooden bridge once crossed the Aare here, similar to the famous examples in Lucerne and Baden. It was replaced by modern structures in the nineteenth century, but a few remnants of the old bridge infrastructure can be detected in the stonework of the riverbank.
Chapter 7: Laurenzenvorstadt and the Outer Old Town
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GPS Waypoint: Laurenzenvorstadt -- 47.3915, 8.0470
Turn south and walk back into the old town, heading toward the Laurenzenvorstadt, the historic outer district that developed beyond the original town walls. This was the suburb of medieval Aarau, where trades that were too noisy, smelly, or fire-prone for the walled town were conducted. Tanners, dyers, and blacksmiths set up shop here.
The Laurenzenvorstadt takes its name from the Chapel of St. Lawrence, which once stood at the district's centre. The chapel is gone, but the name endures, and the street retains much of its historic character. The houses here are slightly less grand than those within the walls, but they have their own charm, with painted shutters, window boxes cascading with geraniums in summer, and the occasional painted eave that carried the Dachhimmel tradition beyond the old town core.
Look for the fountain at the centre of the Laurenzenvorstadt. Aarau's fountains, like those in Bern and other Swiss towns, served as both practical water sources and symbols of civic pride. Many feature sculpted figures or decorative columns, and they remain focal points of neighbourhood life.
Chapter 8: The Aarau Town Museum and Industrial Heritage
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GPS Waypoint: Stadtmuseum Aarau -- 47.3920, 8.0465
If you have time for an indoor detour, the Stadtmuseum Aarau offers an excellent overview of the city's history, from its medieval origins through the Helvetic Republic to the present day. The museum is housed in a historic building in the old town, and its exhibitions cover topics ranging from archaeology to decorative arts.
Of particular interest is the collection relating to Aarau's Dachhimmel tradition. Original painted panels, removed from buildings during renovations, are displayed alongside detailed explanations of the techniques and themes employed by the artists. Seeing these panels at eye level, rather than far above your head in the street, reveals details you might otherwise miss: the fineness of the brushwork, the sophisticated blending of colours, and the occasional humorous touches hidden in the compositions.
The museum also documents Aarau's industrial history. In the nineteenth century, the town became an important centre of precision manufacturing, particularly of scientific instruments and bells. The firm of the Hemmerli family produced surveying instruments used across Europe, while the Aarau bell foundry cast bells for churches throughout Switzerland. This industrial heritage gave Aarau a prosperous bourgeoisie whose cultural ambitions helped preserve and enhance the old town during a period when many Swiss cities were demolishing their medieval quarters in the name of progress.
Chapter 9: Literary and Cultural Aarau -- Einstein's Year
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GPS Waypoint: Alte Kantonsschule -- 47.3918, 8.0455
Aarau's cultural significance extends beyond its architecture. The town has been home to several important literary and publishing enterprises. The Sauerlaender publishing house, founded here in 1807, became one of the leading publishers of educational and literary works in German-speaking Switzerland. For much of the nineteenth century, Sauerlaender's textbooks educated generations of Swiss schoolchildren.
The town was also home to Heinrich Zschokke, a German-born writer and liberal political thinker who settled in Aarau in the early nineteenth century. Zschokke was a tireless advocate for public education, progressive politics, and cultural enlightenment. His home in Aarau became a gathering place for liberal intellectuals, and his influence on the cultural life of Canton Aargau was profound.
Albert Einstein, too, has an Aarau connection. The young Einstein attended the Alte Kantonsschule Aarau, the cantonal school, from 1895 to 1896, where his teachers' enlightened methods helped rescue his education after his unhappy experience at the rigid Gymnasium in Munich. It was in Aarau, Einstein later recalled, that he first conducted the thought experiment about riding on a beam of light, the imaginative leap that would eventually lead to the special theory of relativity. A modest memorial at the school commemorates his year in the town.
Chapter 10: Practical Tips for Visitors
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A few practical notes for making the most of your Aarau visit.
The old town is compact and entirely walkable. The walk we have described takes approximately seventy-five minutes at a gentle pace, but allow extra time if you wish to visit the Stadtmuseum or linger in the churches and cafes.
For dining, the old town offers several excellent options. Traditional Swiss cuisine is available at the historic restaurants along the Rathausgasse, where you can find seasonal dishes featuring local ingredients from the Aargau countryside. The Rathausgasse and Kirchplatz also have several pleasant cafes perfect for a mid-walk refreshment.
Aarau is easily reached by train, sitting on the main east-west rail line between Zurich and Bern. The journey takes approximately thirty minutes from Zurich and forty-five minutes from Bern, making it an ideal day trip from either city.
The best time to see the Dachhimmel is on a dry day with good light. Overcast skies can make the painted eaves difficult to see clearly, while direct sunlight brings out the colours beautifully. A pair of binoculars or a camera with a good zoom lens will help you appreciate details that are otherwise hard to make out from street level.
Market days, held regularly in the old town, are a particularly lively time to visit. The weekly market fills the Rathausgasse and Kirchplatz with stalls selling local produce, cheese, bread, and flowers, giving you a taste of Aarau's ongoing role as a market town for the surrounding agricultural region.
Conclusion
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GPS Waypoint: Walk End, Kronenplatz -- 47.3911, 8.0502
As you conclude this walk through Aarau's old town, take a moment to reflect on what makes this place special. It is not the grandest city in Switzerland, nor the most famous. It lacks the Alpine drama of Lucerne or the cosmopolitan energy of Zurich. But Aarau possesses something rarer: an authenticity and an intimacy that larger, more visited cities have often sacrificed.
The painted eaves that make Aarau unique are also a metaphor for the town itself. They are hidden wonders, easily overlooked by the hurried traveller but deeply rewarding for those who take the time to look up. In a country celebrated for its mountains and lakes, Aarau reminds us that some of Switzerland's most remarkable treasures are found not in the landscape but in the quiet, artful details of its human habitations.
Aarau was, for a brief shining moment, the capital of Switzerland. That moment passed, but the qualities that made it a plausible capital endure: its central location, its civic spirit, its cultural seriousness, and its physical beauty. Whether you have come for an afternoon or a full day, you leave knowing a Switzerland that most visitors never discover.
Thank you for joining us on this walk through Aarau. We hope the painted heavens above have given you a new way of seeing this remarkable town.