Bundeskapelle

After the vow of 1291 on the Rütli meadow between the three original cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden proved its worth in the Battle of Morgarten, they renewed the alliance against foreign bailiffs in Brunnen in 1315. The chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity was built on this site in memory of this.

A large part of the village was reduced to rubble by fire on 16 May 1620. The village was then rebuilt according to old plans. In the course of this, Landammann Heinrich Reding acquired a site in the centre of the village and built the federal chapel in 1632. His son Wolf Dietrich donated the high altarpiece, a work by Rubens' pupil Justus von Egmont. It was one of the most valuable of his paintings and is now owned by the Canton of Schwyz. There are also two polished white wooden figures in the chapel depicting St Henry and St Helen. On the side wall are the figures of the apostles St Peter and St Paul, which probably come from the Vierzehn-Nothelfer Chapel. The Pietà is a copy of the artwork stolen from the chapel in 1980. The chapel was restored in 1990, returning the room to its original proportions and sanctity.