Zurich - John Covey - University of Texas @ Austin

252 History
Today frequently voted Europe’s most liveable
city, Zürich started life as a Roman
encampment called Turicum. Germanic
tribes moved in by AD 400 and, in 1336, the
already prosperous town underwent a
minor revolution as craftsmen and traders
took power, expelling the nobles and creating
the 13 Zünfte (guilds) that long directed
the city’s fortunes. Many still exist today
and come out to play for the Sechseläuten
festival (p255).
In 1351, Zürich joined the Swiss
Confeder ation and, in the early 16th
century, became a key player in the Reformation
under Huldrych Zwingli. In the
following centuries, it grew rich on textiles
and banking.
Due to Switzerland’s neutrality during
both world wars, Zürich attracted all sorts
of personalities, from James Joyce to Vladimir
Lenin. The counter-cultural Dada art
movement was born in Zürich in the wake
of the horrors of WWI. It was dead by 1923,
but its disturbing spirit lived on in the works
of Georg Grosz, Hans Arp and Max Ernst.
Dadaist works are on display in Zürich’s
Kunsthaus.
Since the early 1990s, the city has shed
much of its image as a dour town of Protestant
bankers and morphed into one of
central Europe’s hippest hang-outs.
1 Sights
The city spreads around the northwest end
of Zürichsee (Lake Zürich), from where the
Limmat river runs further north still, splitting
the medieval city centre in two. The
narrow streets of the Niederdorf quarter on
the river’s east bank are crammed with restaurants,
bars and shops. The central areas
around the lake, especially Niederdorf, are
best explored on foot.
To keep in touch with the city’s contemporary
art scene, check out www.artin
zurich.ch.
ZÜRICH SIGHTS
oKunsthaus ART MUSEUM
(Museum of Fine Arts; Map p254; %044 253 84 84;
www.kunsthaus.ch; Heimplatz 1; adult/child Sfr16/
free; h10am-8pm Wed-Fri, to 6pm Tue, Sat & Sun)
Zürich’s impressive fi ne arts gallery boasts a
rich collection of largely European art that
stretches from the Middle Ages through a
mix of Old Masters to Alberto Giacometti
stick-fi gure sculptures, Monet and Van Gogh
masterpieces, Rodin sculptures and other
19th- and 20th-century art. The museum is
free on Wednesdays.
Fraumünster CATHEDRAL
(Map p254; www.fraumuenster.ch, in German;
Münsterhof; h10am-6pm Apr-Oct, to 4pm Nov-Mar)
The 13th-century cathedral is renowned for
its distinctive stained-glass windows, designed
by the Russian-Jewish master Marc
Chagall (1887–1985). He did a series of fi ve
windows in the choir stalls in 1971 and the
rose window in the southern transept in 1978.
The rose window in the northern transept
was created by Augusto Giacometti in 1945.
Schweizerisches
Landesmuseum HISTORY MUSEUM
(Swiss National Museum; Map p254; %044 218 65
11; www.musee-suisse.ch; Museumstrasse 2; adult/
child Sfr10/free; h10am-5pm Tue-Sun) Inside a
purpose-built cross between a mansion and
a castle sprawls an eclectic and imaginatively
presented permanent collecion that includes
an extesnive tour through Swiss history.
Collections range from ancient arms to coins,
and traditional crafts to a series of rooms
recreating the interiors of everything from a
15th-century convent to contemporary pads
crammed with designer furniture.
Museum für Gestaltung MUSEUM
(Design Museum; Map p251; %043 446 67 67;
www.museum-gestaltung.ch; Ausstellungstrasse 60;
adult/concession Sfr9/6; h10am-8pm Wed, 10am-
5pm Tue & Thu-Sun) Consistently impressive
and wide-ranging, the exhibitions at this
design museum include anything from
works by classic photographers like Henri
Cartier-Bresson to advertising for design
furniture of yesteryear. Graphic and applied
arts dominate the permanent collections,
with anything from canned fruit tins to
typewriters on display. Take trams 4 or 13.
Museum Rietberg ART MUSEUM
(Off Map p251; %044 206 31 31; Gablerstrasse 15;
adult/concession permanent collection Sfr12/10,
special exhibitions Sfr16/12; h10am-5pm Tue &
Fri-Sun, to 8pm Wed & Thu) Set in three villas in
a leafy park and fronted by a striking emerald
glass entrance, the museum houses the
country’s only assembly of African, Oriental
and ancient-American art. This wide-ranging
collection is frequently complemented by
temporary exhibitions. Take tram 7.
Cabaret Voltaire GALLERY
(Map p254; %043 268 57 20; www.cabaret
voltaire.ch; Spiegelgasse 1; admission varies;