Zürich
Zürich (/ˈzjʊərɪk/ ZURE-ik, German: [ˈtsyːrɪç] ⓘ; see below) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland,[5] at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2023 the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants,[6] the urban area 1.315 million (2009),[7] and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011).[8] Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.
For other uses, see Zürich (disambiguation).
Zürich
Switzerland
Stadtrat
with 9 members
Stadtpräsidentin (list)
Corine Mauch SPS/PSS
(as of February 2014)
Gemeinderat
with 125 members
87.88 km2 (33.93 sq mi)
408 m (1,339 ft)
871 m (2,858 ft)
392 m (1,286 ft)
415,367
4,700/km2 (12,000/sq mi)
German: Zürcher(in)
0261
CH-ZH
Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Romans, who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early).[9] During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.[10]
The official language of Zürich is German,[a] but the main spoken language is Zürich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is generally considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.[11]
As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zürich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies.[12]
Name[edit]
In German, the city name is written Zürich and pronounced [ˈtsyːrɪç] ⓘ. In the local dialect, the name is pronounced without the final consonant and with two short vowels, as Züri [ˈtsyri], although the adjective remains Zürcher(in). The city is called Zurich [zyʁik] in French, Zurigo [dzuˈriːɡo] in Italian, and Turitg [tuˈritɕ] ⓘ in Romansh.
The name is traditionally written in English as Zurich, without the umlaut. It is pronounced /ˈzjʊərɪk/ ZURE-ik.[13]
The earliest known form of the city's name is Turicum, attested on a tombstone of the late 2nd century AD in the form STA(tio) TURICEN(sis) ("Turicum tax post"). The name is interpreted as a derivation from a given name, possibly the Gaulish personal name Tūros, for a reconstructed native form of the toponym of *Turīcon.[14] The Latin stress on the long vowel of the Gaulish name, [tʊˈriːkõː], was lost in German [ˈtsyːrɪç] but is preserved in Italian [dzuˈriːɡo] and in Romansh [tuˈritɕ]. The first development towards its later Germanic form is attested as early as the 6th century with the form Ziurichi. From the 9th century onward, the name is established in an Old High German form Zuri(c)h (857 in villa Zurih, 924 in Zurich curtem, 1416 Zürich Stadt).[15][16] In the early modern period, the name became associated with the name of the Tigurini, and the name Tigurum rather than the historical Turicum is sometimes encountered in Modern Latin contexts.[17]