Zürich

Zürich (ˈzjʊərᵻk , ˈtsyːrɪç; see below) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2023 the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants, the urban area 1.315 million (2009), and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011). Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich 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, Zürich 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 Zürich is German, but the main spoken language is Zürich German, the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect. Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and Kunsthaus. Schauspielhaus Zürich is considered to be one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world. Zürich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies. In German, the city name is written Zürich, and pronounced ˈtsyːrɪç in Swiss Standard German or ˈtsyːʁɪç in German Standard German. In the local dialect, the name is pronounced without the final consonant, as Züri ˈtsyri, although the adjective remains Zürcher(in). The city is called Zurich zyʁik in French, Zurigo dzuˈriːɡo in Italian, and Turitg tuˈritɕ in Romansh. The name is traditionally written in English as Zurich, without the umlaut. It is pronounced ˈzjʊərᵻk . The earliest known form of the city's name is Turicum, attested on a tombstone of the late 2nd century AD in the form STA(tio) TURICEN(sis) ("Turicum tax post").