Switzerland’s largest city, Zürich was a delightful place to spend a few days exploring back in 2014. The city dates back over 2,000 years and was filled with excellent museums and some beautiful architecture.
I arrived by train from Lausanne into Zürich Hauptbahnhof, one of the busiest railway stations in the world, and home to one of the larger station clocks. It is also listed as a Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance. Railways are important here…
The Polybahn is an attractive funicular railway links the central square with one of the universities. The railway dates from 1889 but was completely rebuilt in 1996.
There are four significant churches in Zürich, the 800 year old Grossmünster is a Romanesque-style Protestant church.
The Sechseläutenplatz is a huge public square neighbouring the Opera House, built from 110,000 blocks of quartzite stone. It was finished in 2013, three weeks early, not common in construction…
The Opernhaus Zürich is an impressive 1891 building, built in just 16 months.
Nearby Lake Zurich is quite stunning, and in the June heat was enticing to swim in, though I didn’t get the chance.
The Old Botanical Gardens were rather pleasant with this fantastic statues.
There is plenty more public art around the city.
There are about a dozen museums run by the University of Zurich. I particularly enjoyed the Palaeontological Museum, and the Zoological Museum.
Another draw at the university is Rechtswissenschaftliche Bibliothek (Law Library), a stunning building designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, opened in 2004.
I loved this part of the university campus, particularly in the sunset light.
Swiss cities have some incredible art museums, and Kunsthaus Zurich is one of the best. The building has been expanded four times, and is home to a huge collection.
