Forch is a village and a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

(el. ) located in the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Küsnacht and Maur in the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zürich (german: Kanton Zürich ; rm, Chantun Turitg; french: Canton de Zurich; it, Canton Zurigo) is a Swiss canton in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton in the ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

ZSG Forch - Zürichsee - ZSG Helvetia 2015-09-09 17-15-18

Geography

Forch is located approximately in the southeast of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, nearby Zumikon and Maur. It includes the hamlets ''Aesch'' and ''Scheuren'' (villages of the municipality Maur), and ''Kaltenstein'' in the east of the pass, ''Wangen'' and ''Neue Forch'', which are villages of the municipality of Küsnacht. The forested hill called ''Guldenen'' on

Pfannenstiel Pfannenstiel may refer to: People *Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel (1862–1909), German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin (see ''Pfannenstiel incision'') *Jackalyne Pfannenstiel (born 1947), United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Insta ...

belongs to the Forch area, ''Hinter Guldenen'' to the municipality of Maur and ''Vorder Guldenen'' is part of the municipality of

Egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

. The mountain pass named ''Forch'' connects Küsnacht on

Lake Zürich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

and Maur on Greifensee respectively in the Glatt Valley. A monument called ''Wehrmännerdenkmal'' commemorating

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

is located nearby ''Neue Forch'' and ''Wassberg'' hill (el. ), which is also a popular recreation area for the people of the city of Zürich.

Village of Forch

The population of the village of Forch is about 3,004 (). The village has preserved its rural character. Since 1912, Forch is a stop of the Forchbahn, a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

way of the S-Bahn Zürich, between the Stadelhoferplatz in Zürich and the municipality of Esslingen. Forch village is connected by the A52 highway to Zumikon (to the west) and

Hinwil Hinwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Hinwil (district), Hinwil in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History The village Hinwil from which the later municipality ...

(to the east) heading to the

Zürcher Oberland The Zürcher Oberland ("Zurich highlands") in Switzerland, is the hilly south-eastern part of the canton of Zurich, bordering on the Toggenburg, including the districts of Uster, Hinwil, Pfäffikon as well as the Töss Valley as far as the dist ...

. Thanks to these good conditions, Forch is the biggest village within the municipality of Maur. Nevertheless, its infrastructure, apart from

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

, primary school, post office, retail facilities and hospitality is modest, i.e. most infrastructure facilities are located in Maur and Küsnacht.

History

The tavern "Zur Krone" (''crown'') was built in 1783 on the summit of the Forch pass, 1836-1901 a horse's station, on the post route from Zürich to the municipality of Egg, which was in 1905 replaced by a bus line. Around 1900, a small settlement of eight houses was established, 12 years later the train station of the Forchbahn was built. The war memorial was built in 1922. Around 1960 the region became part of the growing agglomeration of the city of Zürich, and the villages of Forch, Scheuren and Aesch turned to an upscale residential district.

Attractions

The main attractions on the northwestern slope of the primeval landscape of the

area, there are sometimes rock slides occurring there, the last on 24 April 2013 when a boulder crashed on the pathway of the

Küsnachter Tobel Küsnachter Tobel (literally: Küsnacht gorge) is a small river canyon respective gorge on the southwestern slope of the ''Pfannenstiel'' mountain in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Located on the southwestern slope of th ...

. Nevertheless, the pathway is very popular for hiking, usually starting in Forch and ending at the landing gate of the Zürichsee lake transportation company '' Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft'' (ZSG) in Küsnacht. Points of interest include the so-called ''Drachenhöhle'' towards the

Wulp Castle The ruins of Wulp Castle (german: Ruine Wulp or ''Burg Wulp'') is a castle located besides Küsnachter Tobel in the municipality of Küsnacht and the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It was built during the high Middle Ages. Despite this, the ...

besides the gorge: The literally ''Dragon's Den'' is a small cave that was washed out of the glacial

Nagelfluh Conglomerate () is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts. A conglomerate typically contains a matrix of finer-grained sediments, such as sand, silt, or clay, which fill ...

conglomerate. The so-called ''Dorfbach'' stream is also one of the most important spawning grounds for lake trout, although the number of spawning animals was as of 2013 very modest. Some

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...

s respectively the so-called ''Findlingsgarten'' at the lower end of the gorge towards Küsnacht, as well as the idyllic landscape, are further points of attraction. Towards Küsnacht there are the local historical museum and the historical core of Küsnacht, located at the southern entrance of the ravine, and the early medieval ''Zehntenhaus'' granary on the lake shore landing gate, where the ''Forch'' and other motor ship of the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft provide public transport between Rapperswil and Bürkliplatz in Zürich.

Transport

Forch railway station Forch is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Zürich and the municipality of Küsnacht. It is the principal intermediate station and headquarters of the Forchbahn (FB), which is operated as Zürich S-Bahn service S18 and provides links to ...

lies within the village and is the principal intermediate station and headquarters of the Forchbahn (FB), which is operated as Zürich S-Bahn service S18 and provides links between Zürich-Stadelhofen and the village of Esslingen.

References

External links

Official website of the municipality of Maur
* {{authority control Mountain passes of Switzerland Villages in the canton of Zürich Mountain passes of the canton of Zürich Transport in the canton of Zürich