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It’s Switzerland’s main commercial and cultural center, which is called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, and is also one of the world’s pre-eminent global cities. As a matter of fact, Zurich is considered the city with the best quality of life in the world, as well as being the wealthiest city in Europe.

The earliest known settlement/fortification of the area was by the Romans in the 1^st century BC, known as Turicum. The city became an important trading post and built up great wealth--mainly from textiles: such as wool and silk. In the 14^th century, however, visionary burgomaster, Rudolf Brun, shoveled the merchant nobility out of power, and handed control instead to the workers guilds. Shortly after, Zurich joined the nascent Swiss Confederation, marking a new role for the city as a cultural and intellectual centre.

Zurich reached the height of its powers in the 16^th century when it became the first Swiss city to embrace the Reformation, which made it a refuge for Europe’s dissident intellectuals. After, the Calvinist doctrine was adopted over Zwinglian, and the city experienced a gradual decline in its fortune until the city councillors reinvented Zurich as Switzerland’s economic capital in the late 19^th century, by legislative innovations, developing tourism, banking and local manufacturing industry.

Zurich has undertaken a serious effort to become Switzerland’s cultural capital. Developments such as Zurich West, which saw an industrial neighborhood transformed into a Mecca of restaurants, bars and art galleries, is proof of Zurich’s intentions. This beautiful, well-preserved city is full of life, creativity and lots of money….

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Beautiful, fascinating and wealthy--Zurich…. (Also know as Turicum; a Roman customs post and fort on the left bank of the Limmat River), is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich.......

Due to Swiss neutrality during WWI, Zurich once again became a refuge for European dissidents, with Lenin spending time in the city while planning the Russian Revolution and James Joyce writing Ulysses at his quarters near the university. After once again remaining neutral during WWII, Switzerland emerged as a major financial centre, a role it has continued to develop to this day.

In addition to its attraction of artists, philosophers and intellectuals; modern day Zurich is now the world’s main centre for the trading of gold and precious metals, as well as being home to the world’s fourth-largest stock exchange after New York, London and Tokyo. This exceptional affluence tends to define the city these days and yet, despite its wealth, Zürich is not a flashy place at all. In recent years, the city has begun reforms designed to attract more visitors, with the recent relaxation of licensing laws being just one of many planned moves intended to lift the city’s conservative image.