Zürich

Capital of Zürich canton, Switzerland, situated at the exit of the Limmat River from Lake Zürich; population (2000) 363,300. Lying at the foot of the Alps, it is the principal financial and business centre of Switzerland, and one of the world's leading international banking and insurance centres (the ‘Gnomes of Zürich’). Manufactured goods include machinery, electrical goods, textiles, and printed works. It is the largest city in Switzerland.

The university was founded in 1833, and the Federal Institute of Technology (the Polytechnicum) was founded in 1855.

Features The old part of the city is medieval in character, with its famous riverside guildhouses. The Protestant cathedral, the Grossmünster, contains architecture dating from the 11th to the 18th century. The Fraumünster is a 9th-century foundation, and contains some fine 13th-century work with some magnificent modern frescoes by Paul Bodmer. The church of St Peter is noted for its baroque styling. The central library contains many old manuscripts, including letters of 16th-century Swiss reformers. The city's fine civic buildings include the Swiss National Museum, opened in 1898, containing a large collection of Swiss antiquities and art treasures. The Rietberg Museum contains African, Asian and American artworks.

History There was a Roman settlement here in the 1st century BC, known as Turicum. In the 5th and 6th centuries the district was occupied by the Alemanni, but it is not named as a town until the 9th century. During the Middle Ages it was the most important of the Swiss towns. Rudolf Brun, its first burgomaster, overthrew the governing nobility in 1336, and divided the power between the patricians and the craft-guilds. The city joined the Swiss confederation in 1351. Hans Waldmann, another great burgomaster, led the Swiss to victory in the Burgundian war at Morat in 1476, and strengthened the administration of the city against the dominance of the church. Huldreich Zwingli (1484–1531), a leader in the Protestant movement, was pastor here in the 16th century. Following Zwingli's teaching Zürich embraced Protestantism in 1523 and became, like Geneva, a city of refuge for the persecuted. Zwingli was killed in 1531 when Zürich was attacked by the forces of the Catholic cantons. In the 18th century it was one of the centres of the German literary revival. The city's manufacturing industry grew at the end of the 19th century.

Zürich

Canton in northeastern Switzerland, bounded on the north by the River Rhine; area 1,729 sq km/668 sq mi; population (1999 est) 1,198,600. The greater part of Lake Zürich lies within its borders. Zürich is an industrialized canton, with much of Switzerland's heavy, electrical, and textile industry located here. It was the first canton to join the Swiss Confederation in 1351.

The northern part of the canton of Zürich is undulating, while its central and southern areas are covered by the foothills of the Alps, with summits rising to over 1,220 m/4,000 ft. The canton forms part of the basin of the Rhine, and is also drained by the rivers Toss, Limmat, Thur, Sihl, and Glatt. The population is becoming increasingly concentrated on the city of Zürich and its suburbs.