by Stuart Weir
The city of Zurich, photo 1, from Zeurich.com
As part of our coverage of the Diamond League, Stuart Weir, has provided an intro to the host city of the Diamond League meeting. This one is on Zurich, next is Brussels.
The city of Zurich, photo 2 from Zeurich.com
The city of Zurich, photo 3 from Zeurich.com
Zurich
The city of Zurich, photo 4 from Zeurich.com
The Diamond League juggernaut has reached Zurich in Switzerland. The city was founded by the Romans in 15 BC although early settlements have been found dating back more than 6400 years ago. The Zurich metropolitan area has a population of 1.83 million.
The official language is German – but it is a variant called Swiss German which Germans (from Germany) struggle to understand. Curiously Swiss German is not a written language – only spoken – with the written language being normal German.r
The city of Zurich, photo 5 from Zeurich.com
The city is home to a large number of financial institutions and banking companies, which help made Zurich the wealthiest city in Europe in terms of GDP per capita. Physically it is located on lake Zurich with the mountains close by and is a city of great natural beauty.
Zwingli started the reformation at the time when he was the main preacher in the city in the 1520s, at the Grossmünster. He lived there from 1484 until his death in 1531. The 500th anniversary of the reformation is next year.
A 2012 “Quality of Life Survey” ranked Zürich first on a list of the top 25 cities in the world “to make a base within”. According to several surveys from 2006 to 2008, Zürich was named the city with the best quality of life in the world. A global Liveability Ranking sees Zürich rank among the top ten most liveable cities in the world.
