Volkshaus (Zurich)
The Volkshaus Zurich is a multifunctional building with various halls and meeting rooms and a concert hall as the centerpiece. There is also a restaurant, sauna and offices. It is located on Helvetiaplatz at the crossing Ankerstrasse / Stauffacherstrasse.
history
The Zürcher Volkshaus was opened in 1910 as the first alcohol-free Volkshaus in Switzerland . In contrast to people's houses in other Swiss cities, not only unions and the Social Democratic Party were behind the founding, but the composition of the initiators changed several times during the twenty-year founding phase. In addition to the labor movement, social reformers , the city and the founders of what would later become the Zurich Women's Association were also involved . A prior vote on subsidizing the city was coupled with a submission from the Kunsthaus in 1906.
From the beginning, the Volkshaus was organized in the legal form of a foundation . The most important organs are therefore the foundation council and the works committee. After the building was completed, it quickly became the central location of the Zurich labor movement. At that time, the building included bathing facilities in the basement, a non-alcoholic restaurant, lecture halls, meeting rooms, various union offices and apartments. The large theater hall with around 1200 seats (a total of 1600 standing and sitting places) was inaugurated in 1928. From 1928 the painter Eduard Gubler lived and worked in the studio apartment there. On request, the ban on alcohol in the theater was lifted in 1979. Since 1939 there has also been a bookshop in the premises of the Volkshaus. It was founded as a cooperative bookstore (GBZ). The first manager, Marthe Kauer (1911–2004), who ran the bookstore until 1974, placed a focus in the range on areas such as education, politics and children's books. She set completely new accents with literary events, which she held for many years in the basement of the bookstore (called “The Catacomb”). The bookstore has been privately run since 1992. Today's "Buchhandlung im Volkshaus" also sees itself as a socially critical specialist bookshop.
today
The Volkshaus now offers space for various cultural events, concerts, record markets, panel discussions, etc. According to the Volkshaus Foundation, around 400,000 visitors come and go in the halls and meeting rooms, which have a total capacity of 2500 people. In 2006, 2007 and 2009 the championship celebrations of FC Zurich took place after they had won the Swiss championship in football. The team celebrated on the balcony of the Volkshaus. There has been a hammam in the Volkshaus since 2012.
The president of the board of trustees of the Volkshausstiftung has been the former vice-president of the GBI union (today: Unia ), former commercial sector manager of the Unia union and former Zurich cantonal councilor , Franz Cahannes .
Web links
- Volkshaus Zurich
- Holdings: Volkshaus Foundation Zurich in the finding aids of the Swiss Social Archives
- Sauna - Banja - Hamam in the Zürcher Volkshaus
literature
- Stefan Keller , Rebekka Wyler: One hundred years Volkshaus Zurich. Movement, place, history . Ed .: Urs Kälin. Hier + Jetzt , Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-03919-149-9 .
- Susanne Eigenheer: Baths, Education, Bolshevism: Conflicts of Interest around the Zurich Volkshaus 1890 - 1920 . Chronos, Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-905311-19-4 (dissertation University of Zurich 1992, 278 pages).
Individual evidence
- ^ Margrit Tappolet, "Marthe Kauer 1911-2004", Altstadt Kurier, http://zuerich1.ch/kurier/story.php?id=12&archiv=2004 ; accessed on September 17, 2018
- ↑ Anna Locher in: Urs Kälin, Stefan Keller, Rebekka Wyler (eds.), Hundert Jahre Volkshaus Zürich. Movement, place, history . Hier und Jetzt Verlag, Baden 2010, pp. 47/48.
- ↑ Urs Kälin, Stefan Keller, Rebekka Wyler (eds.), Hundert Jahre Volkshaus Zürich. Movement, place, history . Hier und Jetzt Verlag, Baden 2010, p. 123.
- ^ The penultimate term of office of Franz Cahannes, s. https://www.volkshaus.ch/haben ; accessed on September 17, 2018.
Coordinates: 47 ° 22 '32.1 " N , 8 ° 31' 37.9" E ; CH1903: 682210 / 247764