Zürich

For other uses, see Zurich (disambiguation).

Canton	Zurich
District	Zurich
Coordinates	47°22′ N 8°33′ E
Population	366145   (December 2004)
Area	91.88 km²
Elevation	408 m
Postal code	8000-8099
Mayor	Elmar Ledergerber
Website	www.stzh.ch

Location within Switzerland

Zürich ▶() (German pronunciation IPA: [ˈtsyrɪç]; in English often Zurich, without the umlaut) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial centre and home to the country's largest airport. It is also home of the Cabaret Voltaire where the Dada movement began in 1916.

The origin of the name is most likely the Celtic word Turus, a corroborating reference to which was found on a tomb inscription dating from the Roman occupation in the second century AD. The Roman name for the town was Turicum and in the local dialect Zürich German it is called Züri IPA [ˈtsyri].

Geography

Satellite photo of central Zürich

The city is situated where the river Limmat leaves Lake Zürich and is surrounded by wooded hills. The river Sihl meets with the Limmat at the end of Platzspitz, which borders the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum).

History

Numerous lake-side settlements from the Neolithic and Bronze age have been found, such as those in the Zürich Pressehaus and Zürich Mozartstrasse. The settlements were found in the 1800s, submerged in Zurichsee, or Lake Zurich.

In Roman times, Turicum was a tax-collecting point for goods entering the imperial province of Raetia by river. The earliest record of the town's name is preserved on a tombstone found in the eighteenth century on Lindenhof, referring to the Roman castle as STA(tio) TUR(i)CEN(sis).

A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German, is mentioned in 835 ("in castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci"). Louis also founded the Fraumünster abbey in 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority.

In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

General view showing Grossmünster church.

Zürich became reichsunmittelbar in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family. Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess assigned the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. However, the political power of the convent slowly waned in the fourteenth century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not assigned by the abbess.

The Codex Manesse, a major source of medieval German poetry, was written and illustrated in the early 14th century in Zürich.

Zürich joined the Swiss confederation (which at that point was a loose confederation of de facto independent states) as the fifth member in 1351. Zürich was expelled from the confederation in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). Zürich was defeated in 1446, and re-admitted to the confederation in 1450.

Zwingli started the Swiss reformation at the time when he was the main preacher in Zürich. He lived there from 1518 until his death in 1531.

Sights

General Zürich view, looking south-east from the Grossmünster

• Churches
  • Grossmünster (great minster) (near Lake Zürich, in the old city), where Zwingli was pastor
  • Fraumünster (our lady's minster) first church built before 874; the Romanesque choir dates from 1250-70; Marc Chagall stained glass choir windows; (on the opposite side of the Limmat)
  • St. Peter (downstream from the Fraumünster, in the old city); with the largest clock face in Europe
• Lindenhof near St. Peter; site of the Roman and medieval castle. View over the river and old town.
• Guild houses along the river (downstream from the Grossmünster)
• Old town on both sides of the river
• Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich (shopping avenue) starting at main train station
• Zoological garden
• Botanical Garden of the University of Zurich [1]
• Chinese Garden, Zurich [2]

• Lake Zürich, running from Zürich to Rapperswil and linking with the Obersee
• Ãœetliberg, at an altitude 813 metres above sea level, with Uetlibergturm TV-tower (not accessible for tourists)

Fraumünster church.

Museums

• Museum Bärengasse, history of the city in the 18th century
• Kunsthaus Zurich [3]
• Museum Rietberg [4]
• Museum Bellerive [5]
• Kunsthalle Zurich [6]
• museum of design zurich [7]
• Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum) [8], directly opposite Zürich's main train station.
• Johann Jacobs Museum [9]
• Johanna Spyri Museum [10]
• Haus Konstruktiv [11], constructive, concrete and conceptual art and design

Industry and commerce

UBS, Credit Suisse, and many private banks have their headquarters in Zürich, the commercial center of Switzerland. Zürich is the world's primary centre for offshore banking, mainly due to Swiss bank secrecy. The financial sector accounts for about one quarter of the city's economic activities. The Swiss Stock Exchange is also headquartered in Zürich (see also Swiss banking).

Education and research

• ETH Zurich
• University of Zurich
• [IBM Zurich Research Laboratory]

Sports

• FC Zürich Football Club [12]
• Grasshopper-Club Football [13]
• ZSC Lions Ice Hockey Club [14]
• Challengers Baseball Club Zürich [15]
• Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
• Weltklasse Zürich
• International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)
• Swimming in the lake, in the river or in several outdoor swimming pools (June-September)

Events

• Street Parade
• Annual public art program each summer, sponsored by the Zurich City Association (the local equivalent of a chamber of commerce) with the cooperation of the city government. The theme for 2005 was teddy bears.

Transportation

Trams in Zurich

Zürich is a hub for rail, road, and air traffic. It has several railway stations, including Zürich Main Station, Zürich Oerlikon, Zürich Stadelhofen, and Zürich Altstetten. The Cisalpino, InterCity Express, and even the TGV high-speed trains stop in Zürich.

The A1, A3 and A4 motorways pass through Zürich. The A1 heads west towards Bern and Geneva, east towards St. Gallen, and the A3 heads northwest towards Basel and southeast towards Sargans.)

Zürich has a major international airport at Kloten, less than 10 kilometres northeast of the city. There is also an airfield in Dübendorf, although it is not used for civil aviation.

Within Zürich and throughout the canton of Zürich, the ZVV network of public transport has traffic density rating among the highest worldwide. If you add frequency, which in Zurich is 7 minutes, it does become the densest across all dimensions. Rumour has it that no point exists on the ground floor within the central district which is farther than 150 metres from the next bus, tram, or train stop.

Notable people

Born or died in Zürich

• Huldrych Zwingli (1484 - 1531), reformer
• Conrad Gessner (1516 - 1565), naturalist, born and died in Zürich
• Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672 - 1733), scholar, born in Zürich
• Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741 - 1801), poet and physiognomist, born in Zürich
• Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827), educational reformer, born in Zürich
• Gottfried Keller (1819 - 1890), poet, born and died in Zürich
• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825 - 1898), poet, born in Zürich
• Johanna Spyri (1827 - 1901), author of Heidi, died in Zürich
• Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia (1853) - (1920) Duchess of Edinburgh, died in Zürich
• Wilhelm Filchner (1877 - 1957), explorer, died in Zürich
• James Joyce (1882 - 1941), Irish novelist, died in Zürich (buried at Fluntern cemetery in Zürich)
• Felix Bloch (1905 - 1983), physicist, born in Zürich
• Elias Canetti (1905 - 1994), novelist, died in Zürich
• Max Frisch (1911 - 1991), novelist, born and died in Zürich
• Hugo Koblet (1925 - 1964), cycling champion
• Bruno Ganz (born 1941), actor, born in Zürich
• Martin Suter (born 1948), author, born in Zürich
• Lucinda Ruh (born 1979), figure skater, born in Zürich

Famous residents:

• Richard Wagner (1849–1861)
• Albert Einstein (1896–1900, 1909–1911, 1912–1914)
• Vladimir Lenin (1917)
• Thomas Mann (1933–1942)
• Kurt Tucholsky (1932–1933)

Hotels

• Savoy Baur en Ville ([16])
• Baur au Lac ([17])
• Dolder ([18])
• Alden Splügenschloss ([19])
• Eden au Lac ([20])
• Park Hyatt Zürich ([21])
• Widder ([22])
• Marriott ([23])
• Ascot ([24])

See also Zürich Tourismus

St. Peter church.

External links

• Stadt Zürich, official site in German.
• Zürich Tourismus
• Travel guide to Zürich from Wikitravel

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