Old town of Zurich

This article describes the historic old town of Zurich, the urban district of the same name is treated under Old Town (City of Zurich) .

Historic houses in the Schipfe quarter on the Limmat

The old town of Zurich is the historic center of the Swiss city ​​of Zurich in the canton of Zurich .

description

The predecessors of the medieval old town were the Celtic oppidum Lindenhof and the Roman settlement Turicum , which were, however, smaller.

The old town character is most pronounced in the area of ​​the Lindenhof district around the Lindenhof hill , the former Schipfe district and the Rathaus district along the Limmat , where the high-medieval stone buildings from the 13th century are concentrated.

Around 1300, between 8,000 and 9,000 people lived in the old town. In 1800, Zurich only had around 10,000 inhabitants. City expansion began in Zurich in the middle of the 19th century . The city fortifications were removed and the city began to expand far beyond the old town. Until then, Zurich consisted practically only of the old town. The surrounding communities were incorporated in 1893 and some had more inhabitants than the city itself.

Geographical demarcation

The old town of Zurich on the Müllerplan

The old town roughly coincides with the 1.8 square kilometer urban district of the same name with the Lindenhof and Rathaus quarters. This is the area enclosed by the city ​​walls before the construction of the fortifications of the third city fortification. The old town was divided into two halves of similar size by the Limmat flowing out of Lake Zurich .

Today the Bürkliplatz on the lakeshore, the Bahnhofstrasse , the main train station , the Central , the Hirschengraben , the Rämistrasse and the Quaibrücke are roughly the cornerstones of the area. Areas at the lower basin of Lake Zurich and along the Schanzengraben outside the medieval city wall also have a large number of historical buildings, but are not part of the historic old town.

Attractions

→ Main articles : List of cultural assets in Zurich / District 1 (East) , List of cultural assets in Zurich / District 1 (West)  and Archaeological Windows in Zurich

See also

• History of the city of Zurich

Web links

Commons : Old Town of Zurich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jürg E. Schneider: City foundation and urban development . In: History of the Canton of Zurich . tape 1 , Early to Late Middle Ages. Werd, Zurich 1995.
2. ↑ A. Senti, H. Waser, P. Guyer: From Zurich's past. Timeline of the history of the city of Zurich . In: Small writings from the Zurich City Archives . tape 4 . Zurich 1951, p. 17 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 22 '20.9 "  N , 8 ° 32' 32.4"  E ; CH1903:  683,359  /  two hundred and forty-seven thousand four hundred thirty-four