Paradeplatz () is a square on

Bahnhofstrasse Bahnhofstrasse (, ), in the Swiss city of Zurich, is the city's main downtown street and one of the world's most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues. In 2011, a study named Bahnhofstrasse the most expensive street for retail property in Eur ...

in downtown

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. It is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Switzerland and has become synonymous with wealth and the Swiss banks, being the location of the headquarters of both

UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...

and

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

. It is surrounded by four blocks of buildings.

Constituent buildings

In the block to the north, which is bounded by Talacker to the west,

to the east and Paradeplatz to the south, is the home of

, amongst other businesses. The building, formerly known as the Kreditanstalt building, dates to 1873. The Lichthof shopping mall is at the eastern corner of the building. The hotel Baur en Ville (now Mandarin Oriental Savoy), on the eastern end of the square, opened in 1838. Also in this block is the

Blancpain Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Swit ...

watch store and the

Harry Winston Harry Winston (né Weinstein; March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in ...

jewellery store. This block is bounded by Züghusplatz () to the north and Poststrasse to the south. The

Confiserie Sprüngli The Confiserie Sprüngli (; English language, English: Sprüngli Confectionery) is a Swiss luxury confectionery manufacturer and retailer headquartered in Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. Founded in 1836 by David Sprüngli, it has been an inde ...

, in the southern block, opened in 1859. It is bounded by Paradeplatz to the north, Bahnhofstrasse to the east and Bleicherweg to the west. The

(formerly Bankverein) building on the western side dates to 1897–1899. It is bounded by Talacker to the north, Paradeplatz to the east and Bleicherweg to the south.

Transportation

Paradeplatz is closed to cars, but accessible by

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

or on foot. The square's

Paradeplatz tram stop Paradeplatz tram stop, located in Paradeplatz, Zurich, Switzerland, is one of the 487 tram stops on the Trams in Zurich, Zurich tram network. It is one of the busiest transfer points, given its central position and location on the city's main st ...

is one of the main nodal points of the Zurich tram network operated by VBZ.

History

The site of the square once lay outside of the medieval city walls, and was incorporated into the town with the construction of the new ramparts in 1642. During the 17th century, it served as a , known as Säumärt (). In 1819 it was renamed Neumarkt (, not to be confused with Neumarkt in Zurich's old town). In 1865, following the construction of Bahnhofstrasse, the square received its current name. Paradeplatz was the scene of clashes between

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

s and cantonal troops during the 1839

Züriputsch The Züriputsch of 6 September 1839 was a putsch of the rural conservative population against the liberal rule of the city of Zurich on the eve of the formation of the Swiss federal state. The reason for the putsch was the appointment of the ...

Constituent buildings

Transportation

History

Panoramic view

See also

References

External links