Zurich

Yesterday we had an uneventful train ride from Interlaken to Zurich. Well, it not completely uneventful. It was 9 minutes late to the Zurich station! This was our 4th train ride on the major lines and over a dozen shorter trips in the mountains and not one was even a minute late. The conductor apologized for the delay and even announced the connections in Zurich for other trains-something they never do otherwise.

By the time we were settled in our hotel room, it had started to rain a bit so we walked to a few nearby churches. First to the Grossmunster, where the reformer Zwingli preached. As with many churches taken over by the reformers, statuary had been removed so it was quite stark. We did see a 15th century statue of Charlesmagne in the crypt. (Supposedly he had chosen the spot for this church.)

The interior has stained glass by August Giacometti. The photo is from Wikipedia.

The door has some interesting panels, this one of Charlemagne.

This door panel is of Zwingli, the great Reformation pastor in Zurich.

This statue on the outside of the church is of another Reformation pastor, Heinrich Bullinger.

Very close by was the Wasserkirche, built in the 15th century on an island in the river but now on land when the Limmatquai was constructed in 1839. It also has some stained glass by August Giacometti. Tte photo below shows the Wasserkirche and the Grossmunster.

Then we walked across the river to the Fraumunster.

The Fraumunster has stained glass window by Marc Chagall. The three main windows are: the blue Jacob window, with a ladder to heaven, the green Christ window, featuring Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, and the yellow Zion window depicting King David and Bathsheba being trumpeted into New Jerusalem. To the sides there are windows depicting the Prophets and Moses. Near the main exit is a window by another famous artist, Giacometti. Visitors are not allowed to take photos, so I show you here a Wikipedia photo of the three center windows.

Equally impressive is the 9m tall stained glass of the North transept, created by Augusto Giacometti in 1940.