Zurich Introduction

Zürich(German pronunciation 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 is widely considered to be one of the world's global cities.

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

Zurich Weather

Zurich does not experience extreme weather. Winter, and the snow season, starts in November and continues through to April. Temperatures range between 5°C (41°F) and -5°C (23°F) in winter. Rain starts falling in April and continues across the summer period, which officially starts in June and continues through to September. Zürich rarely gets to 30°C (86°F) in summer and rarely experiences uncomfortable humidity.

Zurich Attractions

Fluntern Cemetery

Joyce's Grave

Zurich's Fluntern Cemetery is where James and Nora Joyce are buried; the grave has a statue of the author. The cemetery also houses the graves of Elias Cannetti, who won the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature, and Johanna Spyri, the author of Heidi.

Beyer Museum

The Beyer Museum is devoted to time pieces of all kinds, from shadow sticks to striated medieval candles to Renaissance table clocks to watches that check their own accuracy via a wireless connection with an atomic clock. The exhibition is arranged chronlogically and has a technical as well as an aesthetic emphasis.

Bahnhofstrasse

Streets of Gold

The elegant Bahnhofstrasse was built on the site of the city walls which were torn down 150 years ago. Underfoot are bank vaults full of gold and silver. You aren't allowed into the vaults but the famous street's large department stores and speciality shops are happy to offer you a peek at their goods.

Zurich History

In Roman times, Turicum was a tax-collecting point for goods entering the imperial province of Raetia by river. 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.

Zürich became reichsunmittelbar in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family. A city wall was built during the 1230s, enclosing 38 hectares. 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.

In 1839, the city had to yield to the demands of its rural subjects, following the Züriputsch of 6 September. Most of the ramparts built in the 17th centuries were torn down, without ever having been sieged, to allay rural concerns over the city's hegemony.

From 1847, the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn, the first railway on Swiss territory, connected Zürich with Baden, putting the Zürich Main Station at the origin of the Swiss rail network. The present building of the Hauptbahnhof (chief railway station) dates to 1871.

The earliest inhabitants of the future site of Zurich were the lake dwellers. The Celtic Helvetians had a settlement on the Lindenhof when they were succeeded by the Romans, who established a custom station here for goods going to and coming from Italy; during their rule Christianity was introduced early in the 3rd century by Felix and Regula, with whom Exuperantius was afterwards associated. The district was later occupied by the Alamanni, who were conquered by the Franks.

The environs of Zurich are famous in military history on account of the two battles of 1799 (French Revolutionary Wars). In the first battle (4th June) the French under General Massena, on the defensive, were attacked by the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, Massena retiring behind the Limmat before the engagement had reached a decisive stage. The second and far more important battle took place on the 25th and 26th of September. Massena, having forced the passage of the Limmat, attacked and totally defeated the Russians and their Austrian allies under Korsakov's command.