Tourist information - Zurich
Zurich is a city in northern Switzerland, capital of Zürich Canton, within the Lake of Zürich (Zürichsee) as well as the Limmat and Sihl rivers. The largest city in the country, Zürich is an important commercial and manufacturing center and it is the financial capital of Switzerland. Primary products include printed materials, electrical and electronic equipment, processed food, machinery, textiles, and clothing. The city is also among Europe's major financial and gold-trading hubs and draws in numerous tourists.
Although it is a modern metropolis, Zürich possesses maintained much of its historical attraction. Tourist attractions are definitely 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); Saint Peter's Church (13th century); the Town Hall (17th century); the Rietberg Museum, featuring shows of Asian, African, and American artwork; as well as the Swiss National Museum, with collections exhibiting the development of culture in Switzerland from prehistoric times to the 20th century. Zürich boasts a botanical garden, a natural history museum, along with an industrial arts museum. The city is the site of the University of Zürich (1833), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zürich (1855), and a conservatory of music (1876). In the suburb of Küsnacht is the C. G. Jung Institute of Zürich (1948). Zürich is the birthplace of both 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 Zürich. The Helvetii were among the Celtic tribes that settled the area. The Romans seized the community around 58 BC and named it Turicum, and also the settlement subsequently came under the successive influence over the Alamanni, the Franks, and the Swabians. Zürich became a strong ecclesiastical center through the 9th century, and in 1218 it had been designated a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1351 it became a member of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss Reformation was begun here in 1519 within leadership of Zwingli. Throughout the 18th and also 19th centuries the community developed as a manufacturing and also cultural center.
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