Zurich

Zurich, city in northern Switzerland, capital of Zurich Canton, on the Lake of Zurich (Zürichsee) and the Limmat and Sihl rivers. The largest city in the country, Zurich is an important commercial and manufacturing centre and the financial capital of Switzerland. Major products include printed materials, electrical and electronic equipment, processed food, machinery, textiles, and clothing. The city is also one of Europe's financial and gold-trading capitals and attracts many tourists.

Although it is a modern metropolis, Zurich has retained much of its historic charm. Points of interest include the Romanesque Grossmünster (chiefly 11th-13th century), a Protestant church where the Reformation leader Huldreich Zwingli preached in the early 16th century; the Fraumünster (begun in the 12th century); St Peter's Church (13th century); the Town Hall (17th century); the Rietberg Museum, which features displays of Asian, African, and American art; and the Swiss National Museum, with collections showing the development of culture in Switzerland from prehistoric times to the 20th century. Zurich also has a botanical garden, a natural history museum, and an industrial arts museum. The city is the site of the University of Zurich (1833), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (1855), and a conservatory of music (1876). In the suburb of Küsnacht is the C. G. Jung Institute of Zurich (1948). The world’s gold and silver reserves are kept beneath the Bahnhofstrasse in the heart of the city’s financial and shopping district. Zurich is the birthplace of the poet and novelist Gottfried Keller and the educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. The Irish novelist James Joyce is buried here.

Remains of prehistoric lake dwellings have been discovered at the site of present-day Zurich. The Helvetii were among the Celtic tribes that settled the area. The Romans captured the community around 58 bc and named it Turicum, and the settlement subsequently came under the successive control of the Alamanni, the Franks, and the Swabians. Zurich had become an ecclesiastical centre by the 9th century, and in 1218 it was designated a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1351 it joined the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss Reformation was initiated here in 1519 under Zwingli's leadership. The community developed as a manufacturing and cultural centre during the 18th and 19th centuries. Population 347,517 (2005 estimate).