Zurich, Switzerland

Zurich, Switzerland

Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It was founded by the Romans, who, in 15 BC, called it Turicum. In 1519, Züich became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.

About Zurich, Switzerland in brief

Summary Zurich, SwitzerlandZürich is the largest city in Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It was founded by the Romans, who, in 15 BC, called it Turicum. Early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years. The city is among the world’s largest financial centres despite having a relatively small population. It is considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world. Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Both Zurich Airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. The official language is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Zürcher. In German, the city name is written Zulich, and pronounced in Swiss Standard German. In English, the name used to be written as Zurich, without the umlaut, but it is now written with the base letter followed by e. In 2019 ZüRich was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Geneva and Basel. The name is interpreted as a derivation from a given name, possibly Gaulish personal name Tūros, for a reconstructed native form of the toponym of *Turīcon.

The Latin stress on the long vowel of the Gaulish name,, was lost in German but is preserved in Italian and in Romansh. The first development towards its later, Germanic form is attested as early as the 6th century with the form Ziurichi. After Emperor Constantine’s AD 318, the border crossing between Gaul and Italy was located east of Turicum, where a castle remained standing until the 7th century. In the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni tribe settled in the Swiss Plateau. A castle built on the Lindenhof was discovered at the site of the Galliarian Quadrages Quadrima Galliarium, which remains standing today. In 1519, Züich became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli. In 2012, Monocle’s 2012 \”Quality of Life Survey\” ranked Z Mürich first on a list of theTop 25 cities in  the world \”to make a base within Zurich – the Swiss canton and the Swiss federal state of Aargau and the Bavaria region of Switzerland as the most liveable city in the world in 2012 to make a base within Zürich and in 2013 the city was ranked in the top 25 cities to make a base within the Swiss canton of Basel and the Canton of Auschwitz in Switzerland.