Zunft zum Kämbel ("Kämbel guild") is a

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

organisation in

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. The guild was established in 1336; the guild house, Haus zur Haue, is situated at

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 ...

Guild house

The present ''Kämbel'' guild house, Haus zur Haue, is situated at the

Rathaus 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 ...

bridge on

near the Constaffel, Saffran and Zimmerleuten guild houses. ''Zunft zum Kämbel'' was originally a guild of food and wine merchants. Its first tavern and meeting place (''Trinkstube'') was located near the medieval town hall at

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 ...

. The guild house was first mentioned in a 1389 document as ''Kembel''. In 1487 the guild acquired the house ''zum Kämbel'' which still exists at

18. The location at Münsterhof square is seen as a deliberate distancing from the noble houses of the more prominent Zürich guilds.

History

The origins of the Kämbel guild date back to 1336 when, along with the other medieval Zürich guilds and the knight's association ( ''Constaffel''), it was founded on occasion of the Brun guild constitution. The guilds brought together various craft associations and at the same time were economical, political, social and even military organizations which fielded independent military formations in the medieval city-state's wars. The guild masters also constituted the councillors of the medieval city-republic of Zürich until the French revolutionary troops terminated the guild regime and the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy (German language, Modern German: ; historically , after the Swiss Reformation, Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ...

collapsed in spring of 1798. In 1801 the Kämbel members sold their guildhall, but by the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion ...

in 1803 and 1815, the guild was temporarily re-established as one of the thirteen ''municipal election guilds''. In the 1838 election, guilds were abolished at the cantonal level, and they were definitively abolished in Zurich by the municipal elections of 1866. The members of Kämbel originally comprised the small merchants of the medieval city of Zürich, among them the ''gardeners'' (vegetable traders), winzers and food merchants, collectively called ''Grempler'', from which the name of the guild is derived. In later years, the wine haulers (''Wynzügel'') and salt traders (''Houw'') also became members of the guild. As representatives of the city council, the guild's deans had to regulate the sale of goods produced by Kämbel members, and they oversaw the food stands under the arcades on

, at Weinplatz, and at ''Gmüesbrugg'', the "Vegetable Bridge". The most important dean of Kämbel was

Hans Waldmann Hans Waldmann may refer to: * Hans Waldmann (mayor) (1435–1489), mayor of Zurich and Swiss military leader * Hans Waldmann (fighter pilot) Hans Peter Waldmann (24 September 1922 – 18 March 1945) was a German Luftwaffe (Air Force) fighte ...

(1435–1489), mayor of Zürich from 1482 to 1489, who was executed after upheavals known as the ''Waldmannhandel''. The equestrian monument in front of the

Fraumünster The Fraumünster (; lit. in en, Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to urLady Minster) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for h ...

church at

was created by Hermann Haller and unveiled on 6 April 1937 by the Kämbel guild in an effort to rehabilitate Hans Waldmann who, they proposed, had been the victim of a

judicial murder Judicial murder is the intentional and premeditated killing of an innocent person by means of capital punishment; therefore, it is a subset of wrongful execution. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' describes it as "death inflicted by process of law ...

. The equestrian statue became the subject of controversy for artistic, political and historical reasons.

Sechseläuten

Like the other Zürich guilds (except the women members of the

society, who participate only as "guests"), the members of the Kämbel guild participate in ''

Sechseläuten The ''Sechseläuten'' (Zürich German: ''Sächsilüüte'', "The six o'clock ringing of the bells") is a traditional spring holiday in the Swiss city of Zürich celebrated in its current form, usually on the 3rd Monday of April, since the early 2 ...

''. The ''Kämbel'' riders wildly circle the ''Böögg'' at Sechseläutenplatz in fanciful "Arabian" costumes as a reference to their coat of arms which shows a

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

, a pun on ''Kämbel''.

Activities

The association holds monthly meetings and publishes a New Year's sheet. Its members are involved in numerous cultural projects.

Literature

* Markus Brühlmeier, Beat Frei: "Das Zürcher Zunftwesen." ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'', Zürich 2005, . * ''Vom Dübelstein zur Waldmannsburg: Adelssitz, Gedächtnisort und Forschungsobjekt''. In: ''Schweizer Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters'' Volume 33. Published by

Schweizerischer Burgenverein ''Schweizerischer Burgenverein'' is a Swiss voluntary association dedicated to the study and preservation of medieval castles in Switzerland. Established in 1927 as ''Schweizerische Vereinigung zur Erhaltung der Burgen und Ruinen'' ("Swiss associa ...

, Basel 2006, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zunft zum Kambel History of Zürich Organisations based in Zürich 1336 establishments in Europe 14th-century establishments in Switzerland Organizations established in the 1330s People from Zürich Guilds in Switzerland Culture of Zürich