Roman era Beginning in the 1st century A.D., Busskirch was a
Roman lakeside settlement that served as a stage town on the intersection of the streets to
Kempraten (Latin:
Centum Prata) respectively Zürich (
Turicum), Winterthur (
Vitudurum) and to
Chur (
Curia Rhaetorum) respectively on the waterway
Walensee–
Zürichsee to Rome's
alpine route.
St. Martin Busskirch church Busskirch is first mentioned in 842/843 A.D. as
Fossonas ecclesiam, in 854 as
Fussinchirichun and in 1209 as
Buschilche. «
A little church dreaming on the lake» wrote Pius Rickenmann, a poet from Rapperswil, in his poem
Busskirch. The early medieval
Parish church of
St. Martin Busskirch with its cemetery rests on the remains of a Roman building (1st to 4th century A.D.). Beginning in the 8th century, the village belonged to the Pfäfers Abbey. Busskirch is one of the oldest churches around the Lake Zürich. Even the citizens of
Rapperswil had to attend services in Busskirch until Count Rudolf II of Rapperswil built
his own church and a
chapel next to
Rapperswil Castle in 1253. In 1351
St. Martin Busskirch was incorporated by the monastery (until 1838). In co-operation with
Jona the settlement formed an
Allmendgenossenschaft (farmer's association), reigned by the
Counts of Rapperswil, latter by the city of Rapperswil. In 1253 the parish churches of Rapperswil (''St. John's Church
) and Jona were established: St. Martin Busskirch'' lost its former importance and was in 1945 integrated in the Roman Catholic parish Rapperswil. == Points of interest ==