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Solothurn, the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name, actually wanted to party for a year.
The flags with the logo “City of Solothurn 2000 years legendary” flutter in the wind despite the pandemic-related cancellation.
Exhibitions and guided tours are also currently taking place - fortunately, because the city has many stories to offer.
Solothurn is known as the most beautiful baroque city in Switzerland.
An example of this is the Jesuit church, built between 1680 and 1689, with the golden statue of the Virgin Mary on the roof.
The construction of the church and the college were financed by donations from the Solothurn patrician families and the French royal family.
Louis XIV reciprocated with a very special thank you.
Not only his coat of arms and a note of thanks adorn the facade.
The face of the Sun King is said to have even served as a model for that of the golden Madonna.
Looking towards Versailles.
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Why this proximity to France?
Solothurn was the permanent residence of the French ambassadors from 1530-1792.
From here they recruited mercenaries for the French king.
With the ambassadors came not only money from Paris, but also the French lifestyle.
The Romans founded a settlement on the river
Solothurn owes its foundation to the river Aare and its special location as the first bottleneck east of the Jura lakes.
The Romans built a bridge and founded the settlement of Salodurum, so to speak as a stopover on the conquest.
According to legend, Ursus, a member of the eleventh Thebaic Legion, refused to carry out the order of the Roman emperor Maximilian to fight against Christian fellow-believers in what is now Valais.
The Legion was massacred as a punishment.
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Ursus escaped this massacre of Agaunum around 303 AD together with Victor von Solothurn and fled.
They were captured in Solothurn, beheaded and thrown into the Aare.
But they are said to have risen from the river with their heads.
The two city saints were buried where the St. Peters Chapel is now.
The St. Ursus Cathedral in Solothurn is not only consecrated to the martyr Ursus from the eleventh Thebaic Legion, he is also the city's patron saint.
The Swiss men's name Urs, which is still very popular today, goes back to him.
The number eleven is present throughout Solothurn
Since then, the number eleven has been sacred and omnipresent for Solothurn.
That runs through the whole cityscape.
The Elf's masterpiece is St. Ursus Cathedral, the city's landmark.
Master builder Gaetano Matteo Pisoni from Ascona was so fascinated by this number in 1762 that he completely coordinated the church with it architecturally.
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The bell tower measures six by eleven meters.
The cathedral has eleven bells, eleven doors and eleven altars.
The prayer chairs are arranged in rows of eleven.
The outside staircase has three by eleven steps.
And: the construction period took eleven years (1762–1773).
Most famous: the “Solothurn clock” on the cathedral, which only shows eleven hours.
The “Solothurn Song” is played on eleven bells at eleven, twelve, five and six p.m.
St. Ursentag, September 30th, is an urban day of remembrance in Solothurn.
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Meistergasse leads to the now traffic-free old town and to the eleven historic fountains.
They were the water supply of the city and the columns with the figures were not only used for decoration, but also for popular education.
Like the fountain of justice or the fish fountain on the market square.
The fountain with the figure of the banner and coat of arms bearer originally stood on Kronenplatz until 1780 with the recently lavishly renovated "Hotel La Couronne", which has welcomed guests since the 15th century and is therefore one of the oldest hostels in Switzerland.
The famous Casanova once stayed in the hotel
My room is on the fourth floor of the boutique hotel and I am facing the Von Roll House just across the street, the scene of a romantic story.
In 1760 the famous Casanova was staying in the city and stayed in the corner room two floors below me.
He fell in love with a woman from Solothurn during a trip through Switzerland in Zurich and followed her to the baroque city.
But Maria Anna Ludovika von Roll was already married to Baron Urs Viktor Joseph von Roll.
The De Vigier family is said to have made their summer home available to Casanova.
The von Roll family was one of the guests.
Allegedly there was a shepherd's hour there that night - not with the beloved, but with a limping and foul-smelling lady who Casanova is said to have infected with syphilis out of revenge.
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You can find out more on a special Casanova tour through Solothurn.
Or a visit to the Biel / Solothurn theater, where Paul Burkhard's once-forgotten opera “Casanova in Switzerland” premiered this year.
The opera was premiered in 1943 in the Zurich Opera House, later it disappeared in the archives.
The next performance is planned for February 7, 2021.
The city is worth it - also because of the many stories that can be told about it.
One of them is about a stone rump that was once attached to the Bern Gate, and which pointed mockingly in the direction of today's capital.
The Bern gate was demolished in 1877, but the "Füdlistein", as a sign of the sometimes clouded relationship with the mighty Bern, still exists.
It also plays an important role in the criminal history that the Solothurn residents continued to write together every day during the Corona lockdown.
And there is already an outlook for the coming year, because then the anniversary celebrations will be rescheduled.
Barbara Blunschi blogs at Reisen-lifestyle.ch. Participation in the trip was supported by Solothurn Tourism. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at axelspringer.de/unabhaengigkeit.