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The romans founded a settlement outside staircase has three sets of eleven steps. View of
on the river. Furthermore, construction of the cathedral Solothurn
Solothurn owes its foundation to the river Aare took eleven years, from 1762 to 1773. St Ursen
and its special location as the first crossing Cathedral
place east of the Jura lakes. The Romans The number 11 is alive in the magnificent
built a bridge and founded the settlement of heritage site to an almost inconceivable level.
Salodurum as a stopover, so to speak, on their The architect also instilled the building with
route of conquest. a multitude of symbols and signs, hinting at
some cryptic element in its creation process,
According to legend, Ursus, a member of the but also hinting at a numerical sequence that
eleventh Thebaic Legion, refused to carry out ultimately adds up to something far more
the order of the Roman emperor Maximilian powerful.
to fight against Christian fellow-believers in
what is now Valais. In 303 AD, the Legion was Eleven represents the dream of
massacred as a punishment. Ursus fled the trying to attain something better.
massacre along with Victor von Solothurn, but If you stand in front of its Romanesque façade,
they were captured in Solothurn, beheaded, the calculated brilliance behind the cathedral’s
and thrown into the Aare. However, the frame is striking. As well as the three sets of 11
legend states they rose from the river intact, steps there are two classical fountains flanking
and these two saints were buried where the St. the staircase, one of Gideon and one of a devil-
Peter’s Chapel now stands. horned Moses, each adorned with 11 fine taps
that trickle water into basins below through
Symbolic significance of 11 in St ur- the heat of summer. There are 11 doors, and
sus Cathedral. the structure’s height is split into three parts
The St Ursus Cathedral is now Solothurn’s of 11 meters each, all dominated by the 66
most important landmark, and Ursus is the meter belfry. That this tower hides a carillon
town’s patron saint. It is a masterpiece of of bells just shy of a dozen should come as no
architecture, but also a celebration of the surprise.
number 11. In 1762, Master builder Gaetano
Matteo Pisoni from Ascona used the number as This was not a personal obsession of Pisoni – the
a motif throughout the church. The cathedral town rulers at the time ordered him to include
has eleven doors and eleven altars, and the the number, which he duly did. Even one of the
pews are arranged in rows of eleven. The altars is made from 11 types of marble. When

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