''Rennweg'' is a medieval main road and is today part of the inner-city

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

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 ...

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 ...

. A ''rennweg'' was in the medieval German speaking territories a street where horses were moved.

Schweizerisches Idiotikon ''Schweizerisches Idiotikon'' ("the Swiss idioticon", also known as ''Wörterbuch der schweizerdeutschen Sprache'' "Dictionary of the Swiss German language") is an ongoing, major project of lexicography of the Swiss German dialects. Publication beg ...

, vol. VI, col. 840 f., articl
''Ränn-Wëg''
and vol. VI, col. 961 sqq., articl
''rännen''
esp. meanings 1d («ein Pferd in eilige Bewegung setzen, hetzen») and 2a («mit verhängtem Zügel, in schärfster Gangart reiten, fahren»). Once, it was one of the nodal points of road and public transportation. Today, as well as the

Limmatquai ''Limmatquai'' is a street in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is named after the Limmat, and it follows the right-hand (eastern) bank of that river for about through the '' Altstadt'', or historical core, of the city. The street was once important ...

, as well as

Augustinergasse ''Augustinergasse'' is a medieval lane that today is part of the innercity pedestrian zone of Zürich, Switzerland. It is named after the former Augustinian Abbey that is now Augustinerkirche, the former church of the convent that was disestabli ...

, it is a section of the southern extension of the '' Seeuferanlage'' promenades that were built between 1881 and 1887. ''Rennweg'' is one of the best known visitor attractions of the oldest area of the city of Zürich.

Geography and history

Archaeologists excavated individual and aerial finds of the Celtic-

Helvetii The Helvetii ( , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celts, Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their Switzerland in the Roman era, contact with the Roman Republic in the ...

oppidum

Lindenhof The Lindenhof, in the old town of Zürich, Switzerland, is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Kaiserpfalz. It is situated on Lindenhof hill, on the left side of the Limmat at the Schipfe. In 1747, a second-century ...

from around the 1st century BC

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defini ...

, whose remains were discovered in archaeological campaigns in the years 1989, 1997, 2004 and 2007 on Lindenhof,

Münsterhof Münsterhof (literally: Fraumünster abbey courtyard) is a town square situated in the Lindenhof quarter in the historical center of Zürich, Switzerland. Münsterhof is the largest town square within the ''Altstadt'' (old town) of Zürich, and is ...

and Rennweg, and also in the 1900s, but the finds mistakenly were identified as Roman objects. Not yet archaeologically proven, but suggested by the historians, as well for the first construction of the today's Münsterbrücke Limmat crossing, the present Weinplatz square was the former civilian harbour of the Celtic-Roman ''Turicum'', and so the term ''Weinplatz'' may have kept its ancient meaning ''wine square''. In the European Middle Ages, it was the main street of the upper town of Zürich, leading from the ''Rennwegtor'' gate in the

fortifications of Zürich Zürich was an independent (''reichsfrei'') city or city-state from 1218 to 1798. The town was fortified with a city wall from the 13th to the 17th century, and with more elaborate ramparts constructed in the 17th to 18th century and mostly demolis ...

and passing below the

Lindenhof hill The Lindenhof (lit.: ''courtyard of the lime'') is a moraine hill and a public square in the historic center of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the site of the Roman and Carolingian era Kaiserpfalz around which the city has historically grown. The ...

towards the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. The site of the Rennweg gate is at the current junction of the Rennweg with the

Bahnhofstrasse Bahnhofstrasse is Zürich's main downtown street and one of the world's most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues. In 2011, a study named the ''Bahnhofstrasse'' the most expensive street for retail property in Europe, and the third most expens ...

, the Bahnhofstrasse itself following the course of the 13th-century '' Fröschengraben'', the inner moat that was enforced by the later built '' Schanzengraben''. Accounts of the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl in the

Old Zürich War The Old Zurich War (german: Alter Zürichkrieg), 1440–46, was a conflict between the canton of Zurich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg. In 1436, Count Friedrich VII of ...

, which occurred on

July 22 Events Pre-1600 * 838 – Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. *1099 – First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of J ...

, 1443, describe that Zurich Mayor

Rudolf Stüssi Rudolf Stüssi (died 22 July 1443) served as burgomaster of Zürich during the mid-fifteenth century. His expansionist ambitions for Zurich caused the Old Zürich War (1440–46). Biography Stüssi's father came from Glarus and became a citi ...

fell while trying to defend the bridge across the Sihl. The city was then saved by the gatekeeper's wife, one Anna Ziegler, who managed to lower the

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

of the Rennweg gate just as the pursuing enemy troops were about to enter the city.

Transportation

The ''Rennweg'' respectively former ''Rennweg–

'' stop on lines 6, 7, 11 and 13 of the Zürich tram system is some further southernly along the ''Bahnhofstrasse'' road. Zürich - Rennweg 20090311_1.jpg, Rennweg towards Glockengasse and Weinplatz File:Franz Carl Weber - Rennweg 2012-04-15 18-11-11 (P7000).jpg, Franz Carl Weber store Rennweg - Brunnen 2012-03-16 18-31-52 (P7000).JPG, The medieval Rennweg well Rennwegtor.jpg, The Rennweg gate in 1812

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rennweg (Zurich) Altstadt (Zürich) Streets in Zürich Pedestrian streets in Switzerland