ZURICH

Zurich main attractions: The historical center of the city of Zurich, excellently preserved, on the shore of the Limmat, it boasts numerous points of attraction. The most notable monument in the city is the Grossmünster (the ancient Cathedral), built around 1100, while the towers are Gothic. Inside the church are to see the Romanesque Crypt, the Romanesque capitals in the church and in the via crucis, the windows of the choir realized from Augusto Giacometti (1932), the doors in bronze of Otto Münch (1935 and 1950), and the museum of the Protestant reform in the via crucis. The Fraumünster is a church with a female convent, interesting are the Romanesque choir and the central aisle with its tall vaults, to the inside a great organ is found to 5793 reeds (of 1953), but the principal attraction of the church is constituted by the many colored glass windows: the north window in the transversal aisle is work of Augusto Giacometti, while the cycle of glass door in the choir (1945) are works of Marc Chagall, as also the rose window in the southern transversal aisle (1978). The Peterskirche, is the most ancient church in the city, it date back in fact to before the 9th century, the today's building introduces a 1705/06 Baroque aisle, to its inside a Choir of the beginning of the 13th century is found, with fragments of frescos of the 14th and 15th century. The late romanic-Gothic bell tower of the church has a clock with a diameter of 8,7 meters, that is the clock tower with the greatest quadrant in Europe. Among the religious buildings are to mention the Dominican Church Predigerkirche of the 13th century but rebuilt in Baroque age and the late gotic Wasserkirche of the 15th century. Among the civil buildings to be remembered it is the Rathaus (Town hall), a 1694-1698 Baroque construction. Very characteristic finally are the numerous bourgeois houses of the 15th-18th centuries and the buildings that entertained the guilds as the house Rüden (Gothic) and the house zur Meise (rococo). The Opernhaus in Zurich, constructed in 1891 in new baroque style has been the first lyric theater in Europe to be illuminated with the electric light.  

The Bahnhofstrasse (Street of the station) street that conducts from the central station to the Zurich lake, through the Paradeplatz it's know for the shopping, here you can find elegant shops of fashion, shopping centers, shops of shoes, furs, accessories, jewels and clocks, banks, confectioneries. Know for the shopping is also the zone of Niederdorf with the pedestrian zones and the so many shops hidden in small alleys that invite you to purchase, to the evening, the zone of the Niederdorf, with all its cafes, the restaurants and the street artists, it turns into the district of the funs of the city. Other place for the purchases not to be missed is the area of the Storchengasse/Strehlgasse heart of the ancient center in Zurich, while the Schipfe is one of the oldest districts in Zurich, it entertains numerous handicraft shops today, it is an ideal place for a standstill, for the purchases and to eat. The beautiful green park, Quaianlagen, situated on the inferior basin of the lake it becomes in the summer months a frequented place of meeting of the citizen. Not to miss finally a visit to the Lindenhof, a panoramic belvedere with stupendous sight on the old city, here the rests of a Roman customs station are found as well as of a late roman castle. In Zurich is found also the famous House Le Corbusier (also Heidi Weber Haus), planned by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, was realized initially as residence but today it hosts an exibition of modern art.  

In the outskirtses of Zurich an excursion not to be missed is that to the Falls of the Rhine, next to Schaffhausen (50 kms from Zurich) they are the greatest falls of Europe, wide 150 meters and tall 23 meters, they have a middle discharge of 700 meters cubes of water to the second. Interesting it is the excursion along the Zurich lake (Zürichsee), that can be completed with the visit of the Castle of Rapperswil and its Polish Museum an exibition that illustrates the contribution of Poland to the western culture.  

Museums: Zurich entertains more than 50 museums, among the most important museums in the city it is certainly the Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum of the art), it is one of the more important museums of modern art in Europe. The principal works of the museum include the greatest collection of works of Edvard Munch outside Norway, important paintings of Picasso and the expressionists Kokoschka, Beckmann and Corinth. There is also a interesting group of works of Claude Monet, Marc Chagall and an important photographic gallery. In the museum the most important collection of works of Alberto Giacometti, Swiss surrealist sculpto, is exposed. They are present also medieval sculptures and altarpieces, Flemish painting, Italian Baroque paintings and Swiss art of the 19th and 20th century with works of the most known artists as Johann Heinrich Fuseli them and Ferdinand Hodler. The modern artistic tendencies are represented by works of Rothko, Merz, Twombly, Beuys, Bacon and Baselitz. The Swiss National Museum (Schweizerisches Landemuseum), it entertains the greatest historical-cultural collection in Switzerland, from the prehistory to our days. Works of sacred and profane art are present from the middle age to the 15th and 16th century; objects of craftsmanship of the 16th and 17th century as clocks and jewels; glass door, plotted, traditional customs, coats of arms and Renaissance furniture; reconstruction of environments of the 15th and 16th century; furniture, tapestries, paintings silvers and great heaters in maiolica; an important collection of weapons and armors from the 9th to the 20th century; numerous also the prehistoric and Roman finds of Switzerland. The Collection of the Foundation E.G. Bührle (Stiftung Sammlung E. G. Bührle) it is mainly a collection of impressionistic and modern art of world importance, it exibits works of: Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-august Renoir, Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix, Camille Pissarro, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Maurice Utrillo, Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, etc. Besides are present works of known Dutch (Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn) and Venetian (Canaletto, Tintoretto, Tiepolo) painters and Gothic figurative art. The Nordamerika Native Museum (NONAM), it is a museum that hosts the objects of common use of life of the American Indians and the Inuits (Eskimo). The Museum Rietberg it entertains the extraeuropean art, above all from India, China and Africa. The Museum of the clocks Beyer (Uhrenmuseum Beyer Zurich), it entertains a collection of ancient clocks from the 16th to the 20th century. The Museum of the toy - Collection Depuoz (Spielzeugmuseum Sammlung Depuoz) it exposes toys from the 18th to the 20th century. The Museum of the figurines of tin (Zinnfiguren Museum Zürich), the small museum illustrates the production of the statuettes of tin in the 18th and in the 19th century. Museum Kulturama of the Humanity (Kulturama Museum des Menschen), it is an interdisciplinary didactic museum, that documents and explains 600 million years of human and animal evolution, the museum introduces besides aspects of the human biology and the cultural history of the humanity. Among the many other museums we signal the Kunsthalle Zürich, the Ethnologic Museum (Völkerkundemuseum) of the Zurich university, the Money Museum (museum of the money and the currency).  

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Airports and Flights: Zurich airport (Flughafen Zürich-Kloten) is served from numerous international connections. The center in Zurich is easily attainable from the airport, in only 10 minutes, with the subway (connections every fifteen minutes), and with taxi in 20 minutes.

Public transportation in Zurich: The most economic connections, and often also the more fast, are those by railroad, bus, boat or cable car of the public transports in Zurich (VBZ Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich). In the city there are 13 lines of trams, 6 of trolley bus and 18 of bus. There are also 9 buses of district and 2 funicular, the Polybahn and the Seilbahn Rigiblick. In the whole agglomeration in Zurich there are other 32 lines of bus. The Federal Switzerland Railroads manage the service S-Bahn (abbreviation of Stadtschnellbahn, "urban fast railroad"), that serves not only the city (with 13 stations inside the city) but also the whole canton and partially the neighboring cantons. In Zurich with just one only ticket all the means of transport of the city can be used (tariff community ZVV Zürcher Verkehrsverbund).  

Zurich climate: The climate in Zurich is characterized by mild winters with rather abundant precipitations especially in the summer months. The total annual average of rain is around the 1086 mms a year, the months with smaller precipitations are those between October and March. The minimum temperatures are normally below zero between the months of December and February.  

Zurich	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rain (mm)	67	70	69	87	103	124	117	133	92	69	82	73
Min Temp (°C)	-3	-2	0	4	8	11	13	12	10	6	1	-2
Max Temp (°C)	2	4	8	12	17	20	23	22	19	13	7	3