Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/880

Rh 830 ZURICH the district of Eglisau on the right bank of that river. On the east it is, roughly speaking, limited by the ranges of low hills which separate it from the valley of the Thur, and on the west by those (e.g., the Albis) which divide it from the valleys of the Reuss and the Aar. Its total area is 655 9 square miles, of which 610 6 are classified as fertile (woods covering 186 and vines 21 5). Of 45 2 square miles of non-fertile land 26 2 are covered by the lake. The highest point in the canton is the Schnebelhorn (4250 feet) in the south-east corner. The population in 1880 was 317,576 (an increase of 32,790 since 1870), and in 1887 was estimated to be 339,163. In 1880 there were 313,762 German -speaking and 283,134 Protestant inhabitants. The number of Roman Catholics nearly doubled from 1870 to 1880 (17,942 and 30,298). Be sides ZURICH (see below), the capital, the only other town of any size in the canton is WINTERTHUR (q.v). The land is very highly cultivated and is held by no less than 36,000 proprietors. The canton is well supplied with railways, the first line of any length in Switzerland being that from Zurich to Baden in Aargau (opened 1847). The line from Zurich to the summit of the Uetliberg (2861 feet) was made in 1875. For the history of the canton, see under the town, below. ZURICH, chief city of the above canton, and until 1848 practically the capital of the Swiss Confederation, is beautifully situated, at a height of 1506 feet, on the banks of the Limmat where it issues from the Lake of Zurich, and on the river Sihl, which joins the Limmat just above the north end of the lake. That part which lies on the right bank of the Limmat is known as the Large Town, that on the left as the Little Town. The central portion the &quot;city&quot; is governed by an executive of seven members and a town council of sixty, both elected by the citizens, and in 1887 had 27,638 inhabitants. The nine outlying townships or &quot; gemeinden &quot; have each a separate organiza tion, distinct from that of the city, and in 1887 had 60,836 inhabitants, of whom 18,527 were in Aussersihl and 10,883 in Riesbach. The total population of the town and its suburbs was thus 88,474 in 1887. These are nearly all Protestants and German -speaking. The number of Roman Catholics has doubled in the last ten years ; they are mainly resident in Aussersihl, the work men s quarter, where also many Italian-speaking persons dwell. There are in Zurich about 7000 Old Catholics. Of the old buildings the finest and most important is the Gross Minister (or Propstei) OH the right bank of the Limmat. This was originally the church of the king s tenants, and in one of the chapels the bodies of Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius, the patron saints of the city, were buried, the town treasury being formerly kept above this chapel. The present building was erected at two periods (1090-1150 and 1225-1300), the high altar having been dedicated in 1278. The towers were first, raised above the roof at the end of the 15th century and took their present form in 1779. The chapter consisted of twenty-four secular canons ; it was reorganized at the Reformation (1526), and suppressed in 1832. On the site of the canons houses stands a girls school (opened 1853), but the fine Romanesque cloisters (12th and 13th centuries) still remain. There is a curious figure of Charlemagne in a niche on one of the towers ; to him is attributed the founding or reform of the chapter. On the left bank of the Limmat stands the other great church of Zurich, the Fran Minister (or Abtei), founded for nuns in 853 by Louis the German. The high altar was dedicated in 1170 ; but the greater part of the buildings are of the 13th and 14th centuries. It was in this church that the relics of the three patron saints of the town were preserved till the Reformation, and it was here that the burgo master Waldmann was buried in 1489. There were only twelve nuns of noble family, comparatively free from the severer monastic vows ; the convent was suppressed in 1524. Of the other old churches may be mentioned St Peter s, the oldest parish church, though the present buildings date from the 13th century only, and formerly the meeting-place of the citizens ; the Dominican church (13th century), in the choir of which the cantoiial library of 80,000 volumes has been stored since 1873 ; the church of the Austin friars (14th century), now used by tho Old Catholics ; and the Wasser- kirche. The last-named church is on the site of an old pagan holy place, where the patron saints of the city were martyred ; since 1631 it has housed the city library, the largest in Switzerland, which contains 120,000 printed volumes and 4000 MSS. (among these be ing letters of Zwingli, Bullinger, and Lady Jane Grey), as well as a splendid collection of objects from the lake dwellings of Switzer land. The building itself was erected 1479 to 1484, arid near it is a statue of Zwingli, erected in 1885. The existing council house dates from 1698, and the guild houses were mostly rebuilt in the 18th century. Among the modern buildings the polytechnic school, the cantonal school, the reading rooms (museum), the hospital, and the railway station are the most conspicuous. There are some fine old fountains (the oldest dating back to 1568). The quays along the river and the lake are extensive and afford fine views ; and there are several good bridges, Roman traces being still seen in the case of the Niederbriicke. The mound of the Lindenhof was formerly crowned by the king s house, which disappeared in the 13th cen tury, and the hillock was planted with limes as early as 1422. Zurich possesses a large number of charitable institutions. The inhabitants are very industrious and of social habits among themselves, the town being noted for its clubs and societies. It is the intellectual capital of German-speaking Switzerland, and has been called &quot;Athens on the Limmat.&quot; Cotton-spinning and the manufacture of machinery are two of the leading industries, but by far the most important of all is the silk trade. This flourished in Zurich in the 12th and 13th centuries, but disappeared about 1420 ; it was revived by the Protestant exiles from Locarno (1555) and by the Huguenot refugees from France (1682 and 1685). The value of the silk annually exported (mainly to France, the United States, and England) is estimated at 2,916,000 to 3,333,000. The trade employs about 20,000 hand looms and 4500 steam-power looms ; but the number of the former is diminishing, while that of the latter is increasing. Poor wine is also made. Zurich is the bank ing centre of Switzerland. There are a large number of educational establishments, public and private. Besides the excellent primary and secondary schools, there are the cantonal school, including a gymnasium and a technical side (opened 1842), and a high school for girls (opened 1875). The cantonal university and the Federal polytechnic school are housed in the same building, but have no other connexion. The university was founded in 1832-33 (no doubt as a successor to the ancient chapter school at the Gross Minister, said to date back to Charlemagne s time hence its name the Caro- linum reorganized at the Refonnation, and suppressed in 1832) ; in 1886 it had 51 professors and 481 matriculated students, besides 65 persons attending special courses of lectures. The polytechnic school, founded in 1854, includes six main sections (industrial chemistry, mechanics, engineering, training of scientific and mathe matical teachers, architecture, forestry and agriculture), and a general philosophical, mathematical, and literary department. The numbers of students in the first three sections were, in 1885, 122, 97, and 90 in all the six 412, of whom 192 were foreigners ; there were about fifty-four professors. The polytechnic school has good collections of botanical specimens and of engravings. Near it is the observatory (1542 feet). There are also in Zurich many institutions for special branches of education e.g., veterinary surgery, music, industrial art, silk-weaving, &c. History. The earliest inhabitants of the future site of Zurich were the lake dwellers. The Celtic Helvetians had a settlement on the Lindenhof when they were succeeded by the Romans, who established a customs station here for goods going to and coming from Italy ; during their rule Christianity was introduced early in the 3d century by Felix and Regula, with whom Exuperantius was afterwards associated. The district was later occupied by the Alemanni, who were conquered by the Franks. It is not till the 9th century that we find the beginnings of the Teutonic town of Zurich, which arose from the union of four elements: (1) the royal house and castle on the Lindenhof, with the king s tenants around, (2) the Gross Minister, (3) the Frau Minister, (4) the com munity of &quot;free men&quot; (of Alemannian origin) on the Zurichberg. The Fraukish kings had special rights over their tenants, were the protectors of the two churches, and had jurisdiction over the free community. In 870 the sovereign placed his powers over all four in the hands of a single official (the Reichsvogt), and the union was still further strengthened by the wall built round the four settle ments in the 10th century as a safeguard against Saracen marauders and feudal barons. The Reichsvogtei passed to the counts of Lenz- burg (1063-1172), and then to the dukes of Zaringen (extinct 1218). Meanwhile the abbess of the Frau Miinster had been acquiring ex tensive rights and privileges over all the inhabitants, though she never obtained the criminal jurisdiction. The town flourished greatly in the 12th and 13th centuries, the silk trade being intro duced from Italy. In 1218 the Reichsvogtei passed back into the hands of the king, who appointed one of the burghers as his deputy, the town thus becoming a free imperial city under the nominal rule of a distant sovereign. The abbess in 1234 became a princess of the empire, but power rapidly passed from her to the council, which she had originally named to look after police, &c. , but which (c. 124C) came to be elected by the burghers, though the abbess