zrich

Zrich IPA (in English often Zurich, which is also the standard French form of the name) is the largest city in Switzerland (population 364,558 in 2002; as agglomeration 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zrich. 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 2nd century AD. The Roman name for the town was Turicum and in the local dialect it is called Zri IPA .

Geography

Situated where the river Limmat leaves the Lake Zrich, 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 were found, like Zrich Pressehaus and Zrich Mozartstrasse. 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 18. 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 Fraumnster abbey in 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the benedictine convent with the lands of Zrich, 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 rights to hold markets, collect tolls, and the coinage prerogative and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city. Zrich became reichsunmittelbar in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zhringer family. Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumnster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess assigned the mayor, and she frequently delegated the coinage prerogative to citizens of the city. However, the political power of the convent would slowly wane in the 14th century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun (d. 1360), 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 Zrich. Zrich joined the Swiss confederation (which at that point was a loose confederation of independent states) as the fifth member in 1351. Zrich was expelled from the confederation in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zrich War). Zrich 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 Zrich. He lived there from 1518 until his death in 1531.

Sights

Grossmnster (great minster) (near Lake Zrich, in the old city), where Zwingli was pastor
Fraumnster (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 of Fraumnster, in the old city); with the largest clock face in Europe
Lindenhof (linden court), near St. Peter; site of the Roman and medieval castle. View over river and old town.
Guild houses along the river (downstream Grossmnster)
Old town on both sides of the river

Bahnhofstrasse, Zrich (shopping avenue) starting at main train station
Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum, directly opposite Zrich's main train station.)
Art Museum (Kunsthaus Zrich)
Zoological garden

Lake Zrich, running from Zrich to Rapperswil and linking with the Obersee
etliberg, at altitude 813 metres above sea level

Industry and Commerce

UBS, Credit Suisse and many private banks have their headquarters in Zrich, the commercial center of Switzerland. Zrich 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 Zrich (see also Swiss banking, Gnomes of Zurich).

Education and Research

Sports

Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)
Swimming in the lake, in the river or in several outdoor swimming pools (June-September)

Transportation

Zrich is a hub for rail, road and air traffic. It has several railway stations, including Zrich Main Station, Zrich Oerlikon, Zrich Stadelhofen, and Zrich Altstetten. The Cisalpino, InterCity Express and even the TGV high-speed trains stop in Zrich. The A1, A3 and A4 motorways leave Zrich (the A1 heads west towards Bern and Geneva, east towards St. Gallen, and the A3 heads northwest towards Basel and southeast towards Sargans.) Zrich has a major international airport at Kloten, less than 10 kilometres northeast of the city. There is also an airfield in Dbendorf, although it is not used for civil aviation. Within Zrich and throughout the canton of Zrich, the ZVV network of public transport has traffic density rating among the highest worldwide.

Notable people

born or died in Zürich

Huldrych Zwingli (1484 - 1531), reformer
Conrad Gessner (1516 - 1565), born and died in Zürich
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672 - 1733), scholar, born in Zrich
Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741 - 1801), poet and physiognomist, born in Zrich
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827), educational reformer, born in Zrich
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 Zrich
Wilhelm Filchner (1877 - 1957), explorer, died in Zrich
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
Bruno Ganz (*1941), actor, born in Zürich
Martin Suter (*1948), author, born in Zürich
Lucinda Ruh (*1979), figure skater, born in Zürich