Did you know that Zürich

...the history

has been permanently settled for some 7,000 years?
is probably the only city with patron saints who carried their heads under their arms?
was the starting point and centre of the Reformation in German-speaking Switzerland?
was once a textile centre and that all its products were exported because the strict ‘mandate of morals’ forbade the wearing of fine clothes?

...nature

has some 1,200 free drinking fountains, making it one of the world's most fontainous cities.
boasts the world’s highest density of public bathing areas?
has an abundance of local fauna and flora, plus a tropical rainforest which you can visit in the Masoala Hall even when it’s freezing outside?

...the events

houses Europe’s largest indoor Christmas market at the main train station?
hosts the Street Parade, one of the world’s biggest house and techno parties?
organises freestyle.ch, Europe’s largest freestyle event?
celebrates Switzerland’s biggest New Year’s party?
is home to ‘Expovina’, the world’s largest public wine-tasting fair to be held on board twelve ships?

...dining and nightlife

is the venue for Europe’s oldest vegetarian restaurant, the Hiltl?
has a legendary restaurant, the Kronenhalle, where guests dine in the midst of genuine Mirós, Chagalls and Picassos because some artists used to pay with works of art?
lays claim to the world’s first ever restaurant run by a non-sighted team, the ‘Blinde Kuh’?
boasts one restaurant for every 180 residents?
has the highest density of nightclubs anywhere in Switzerland?

...art

is home to over fifty museums and a mountain of galleries?
is the birthplace of the Dada movement?
is one of the world’s leading art trading cities?
houses what is probably the country’s largest collection of Swiss cultural history at the Swiss National Museum?
can boast traces of Le Corbusier, August Giacometti, Tilla Theus, Santiago Calatrava, Max Bill and many other artists?

...learning and working in Zürich

has a Federal Institute of Technology (FIT) with students from 80 nations, that has connections with 21 Nobel prize winners?
once had a cattle and pork market at the Paradeplatz - now Zürich’s financial centre?
saw Kaspar Escher open the first Swiss engine factory in 1805?
is home to the headquarters and/or research centres of international companies such as Google, IBM and Microsoft?

...well-known personalities on Zürich

in the 12th century Bishop Otto von Freising referred to Zürich as "Swabia’s most genteel city", whilst the inscription above the city gates read: "Nobile Turegum, multarum copia rerum" (Noble Zürich, rich in many things)?
James Joyce, the famous Irish writer, was very impressed by how clean the city was. He is said to have commented that the Bahnhofstrasse is so clean, you could empty out a bowl of minestrone soup and then spoon it up off the street.
Richard Wagner obviously had a soft spot for Zürich. He supposedly said: "If you ever settle down, then be clever enough to do so here (in Zürich)!"
Lenin apparently liked nothing better than to lie in the grass on the Uetliberg and eat chocolate
Goethe, Mozart and even Casanova were drawn to Zürich to enjoy the pleasures of this cultural centre and gateway to the Alps?

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