St. Peter Church, Zürich
That clock face is 8.7 metres wide — the largest on any church in Europe — and until 1911 someone stood watch inside the steeple scanning for fires.
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Beside the hill that once held a Roman castle, this ground went from a Jupiter temple to the first Christian church in the 8th or 9th century. Rudolf Brun, Zürich's first independent mayor, was buried inside in 1360. Reformer Leo Jud preached from this pulpit starting in 1523 — a close friend of Huldrych Zwingli, he helped produce the city's first Bible translation.
What to look for
- The 8.7-metre clock face on the tower — Europe's largest church clock face as of 2023
- Johann Kaspar Lavater's gravestone set into the church wall — he pastored here from 1778 to 1801
- The Romanesque ribbed vault on the tower's first floor, dating to the early 13th century
Beside the Lindenhof hill in the old town; the steeple is owned by the City of Zürich, the nave by the Reformed parish.
St. Peter Church, Zürich is one of 17 sights worth the detour in Zurich, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Zurich pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Zurich
- LetzigrundOn this track, on 21 June 1960, Armin Hary became the first person in history to run 100 metres in 10.0 seconds.
- Zürich HauptbahnhofSwitzerland's largest station runs 2,915 trains a day — and a river flows through it in a tunnel, with tracks both above and below.
- GrossmünsterThe church where Zwingli launched the Swiss-German Reformation in 1520 — and then his followers stripped out the organ and every statue to prove the point.
- Zürich Opera HouseThe first electrically lit opera house in Europe — built in 16 months, nearly razed by street riots, and winner of Opera Company of the Year at the 2014 International Opera Awards.
- Cabaret VoltaireHugo Ball borrowed a back room on Spiegelgasse in February 1916 and accidentally invented Dada — Lenin was renting a flat fourteen doors up the same street.
- Kunsthaus ZürichTwo buildings on opposite sides of Heimplatz, linked underground, housing one of Switzerland's most important art collections — the 2021 David Chipperfield sandstone block alone added over 80% more floor space.