Grossmünster, Zürich

The Grossmünster at sunset.
See many more photos in our Grossmünster Photo Gallery.

Zürich's Grossmünster across the River Limmat.

Fresco of St. Felix and statue of Charlemagne in the Grossmünster.

Grossmunster, Zurich

The plain nave of the Grossmünster with bright modern windows.

Ulrich Zwingli and his successor Heinrich Bullinger.

View across Zürich from one of the great towers of the Grossmünster.

The cloister, which abounds in wonderful Romanesque carvings.

Zürich's Grossmünster is a Romanesque and Gothic cathedral with a fascinating history involving both Catholic saints and Protestant preaching. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne after his horse bowed down on the spot marking the graves of three early Christian martyrs.

In the 3rd century, Felix and Regula were members of an all-Christian Roman legion that was to be executed en masse in southwest Switzerland. They fled with their servant Exuperantius and got as far as Zürich before being tried and executed in 286 AD.

According to legend, the governor plunged the three saints into boiling oil and forced them to drink molten lead. The trio still refused to renounce their faith and so were finally beheaded.

Fortunately, the martyrs still had enough energy to pick up their heads and climb to the top of a hill, where they dug their own graves and then interred themselves. (This impressive feat is more common than you might think—St. Denis in Paris and St. Miniatus in Florence also carried their heads to a hilltop resting place.) The nearby Wasserkirche stands on the site of their execution.

Construction on the Grossmünster began in 1090, and most of the cathedral was completed by 1230. It was dedicated to Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius, the patron saints of Zürich. From the 13th century, images of the saints carrying their heads were used in official seals of the city and on coins (they still appear on the seal of Zürich).

On the saints' feast day (September 11), their relics were carried in procession between the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster, and the two churches vied for possession of the relics. The remains of the martyrs made Zürich the most important pilgrimage site in the area. The relics are now divided between a church in Andermatt and the new Church of St. Felix and Regula in Zürich.

The cathedral reached perhaps even greater prominence through a man who had no use for saints or relics— Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), a contemporary of Luther and one of the great leaders of the Reformation.

Preaching for 12 years from Grossmünster's pulpit, Zwingli called for religious freedom, urged priests to take wives (as he had done), attacked the "worship of images" and denounced the sacrament of the Mass. In 1524, he ordered all altar paintings and church treasures removed from the church.

Zwingli's leadership transformed Zürich from a sparsely populated town into a thriving religious center that attracted students and theologians from across Europe. By 1529, Bern, Basel and St. Gallen had all adopted the Reformation.

In 1531, Zwingli was killed in a war between Catholics and Protestants at Kappel. The site of Zwingli's death is marked with the inscription: "They may kill the body but not the soul." The leadership of the Reformation in Switzerland soon passed to John Calvin in Geneva.

After a fire in 1763, the spires and tops of the Grossmünster's towers were destroyed. They were reconstructed with the Gothic belfires, watchrooms and octagonal cupolae which can still be seen today. The fire also provided an excuse to full embellish the interior with Baroque decoration, but it has since been restored to its original Romanesque appearance.

In a city of modest, small-scale architecture, the Grossmünster looks postively gigantic. Its two three-story towers stretch into the sky above Limmatquai, on Zürich's right bank.

The view from the left tower (about 200 steps up) is impressive and provides a good look at the entire city, including several other nearby churches.

The most impressive approach to the cathedral is across Zwingliplatz to the main North Portal, with a carved door and capitals adorned with Romanesque carvings of animals, birds, and a fiddle player (on the far left). At the base of the north tower is a modern statue of Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli's successor.

The interior of Zürich's Grossmünster is quite bare, still entirely stripped of the statues and paintings denounced by Zwingli. The cathedral's beauty is instead in its simple Romanesque architecture, lofty austerity and venerable history.

The only original decoration that remains are some capitals decorated with battle scenes and Charlemagne's discovery of the graves of Felix and Regula (third pillar on the north side), as well as some delightful faded frescoes in a side chapel.

Most of the decorations you see today are replacements, including the pulpit (1851) and organ (1960). The beautiful stained-glass windows in the choir were made in 1933 by Augusto Giacometti, nephew of Alberto Giacometti, the famous Swiss abstract artist.

Grossmünster's crypt is the largest of its kind in Switzerland. The long triple-aisled hall is dominated by a weather-beaten, 15th-century statue of Charlemagne, which once stood atop the south tower. A replica now takes its place on the tower. replica.

Left of the Grossmünster on Zwingliplatz is the cathedral's chapterhouse, now the university's Theological Institute.

Here a door leads to an atmospheric cloister, built in 1170-80 and renovated in the 1960s. The Romanesque arched windows and capitals are carved with an entertaining variety of gargoyles, monkeys, dragons, humans and centaurs.

Map

Location map and satellite view of the Grossmünster. Using the buttons on the left, zoom in for a closer look or zoom out to get your bearings. Click and drag the map to move around. You can explore all of Zürich from space on our Zürich Map.

Names:	Grossmünster; Great Minster; Zürich Cathedral; Cathedral of Sts. Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius
Dates:	1090-1230
Type of site:	Protestant church; former cathedral; former Catholic shrine
Architecture:	Romanesque
Address:	Grossmünsterplatz, Zürich, Switzerland
Phone:	01/252-59-49
Tram:	4
Hours:	Cathedral: Mar 15-Oct daily 9am-6pm; Nov-Mar 14 daily 10am-4pm. Towers: Mar-Oct daily (when weather permits); off season Sat-Sun when weather permits. Same hours as cathedral.
Cost:	Cathedral is free; towers 2F.
Feast day:	September 11