Zürich

Zurich (German: Zürich; Alemannic German: Züri) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. As of December 2024, the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The urban area was home to 1.45 million people (2020), while the Zurich metropolitan area had a total population of 2.1 million (2020). Zurich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zurich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zurich was founded by the Romans, who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zurich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli. The official language of Zurich is German, but the main spoken language is Zurich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect. As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zurich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies. Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum, Natural History Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is generally considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.