Küssnacht

Küssnacht, known until 2004 officially as Küssnacht am Rigi, is a village, municipality and district of about 13,500 inhabitants in the canton of Schwyz in central Switzerland. The municipality consists of the three villages of Küssnacht, Immensee and Merlischachen, the hamlet of Haltikon, the industrial area Fänn and the alp Seeboden, and it lies on the north shore of Lake Lucerne and the south shore of Lake Zug below the mountain Rigi. It is first mentioned around 840 as Chussenacho, though this is from an 11th-century copy of the original document, and in 1424 it became a district of the canton of Schwyz. According to the legend of William Tell, the hero shot the Austrian bailiff Gessler at the Hohle Gasse near the Gesslerburg. On 29 August 1935 Queen Astrid of the Belgians was killed here in a road accident.