Bülach () is a historic town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

. It is the administrative capital of Bülach district. It is situated in the

Glatt Valley The Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal'' or ''Glatttal'') is a region and a river valley in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography The Glatt (Rhine), Glatt is a tributary to the Rhine in the Zürcher Unterland area of the canton of Zuric ...

(German: ''Glattal'') to the east of the small river Glatt and about south of the

High Rhine High Rhine (, ; kilometres 0 to 167 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Lake Constance () and the city of Basel, flowing in a general east-to-west direction and forming mostly the Germany–Switzerland border. It is the first of fo ...

and about north of the

Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...

. The official language of Bülach is

Swiss Standard German Swiss Standard German (SSG; ), or Swiss High German ( or ; ), referred to by the Swiss as , or , is the written form of one (German language, German) of four languages of Switzerland, national languages in Switzerland, besides French language, Fr ...

, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

dialect.

History

Bülach is first mentioned in 811 as ''Pulacha''. From early times it fell within the province of the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

. Joachim Werner's description of the early cemetery excavated there was published in 1953.

Geography

Bülach has an area of . Of this area, 33.2% is used for agricultural purposes, 39.5% is forested, 26.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located around the lower

. The town of Bülach and the village of Niederflachs are in the valley. Around the town are the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Heimgarten am Rinsberg, Eschenmosen (since 1919, earlier part of Winkel) and Nussbaumen am Dettenberg. The municipality of Bachenbülach was part of Bülach until 1849 when it became an independent municipality. Bülach is located on the old road from Zürich through Kloten to Eglisau. The historical population of Bülach is listed in the following table:

Demographics

Bülach has a population (as of ) of . , 22.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 17.8%. Most of the population () speaks German (83.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.7%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 2.5%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 38.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (17%), the CSP (12.5%) and the FDP (11.2%). The age distribution of the population () is as follows: children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.2%. In Bülach about 73.2% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

'').Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 29-Jul-2009

Attractions

The

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

and the popular Sigristenkeller gallery stand on a small hill, and are surrounded by pretty old buildings, including the Pfarrhaus and the old Tithe Barn. The church is named after Saint Laurentius, to whom the town's coat of arms is dedicated. Saint Laurentius was deacon to Pope Sixtus II, and became a martyr when he was condemned to death by fire in 258 AD. The church forms a well-matched unit with the Town Hall, and has a tower rising above it to a height of 74 meters. Also on the first Saturday of every month at 6pm, trumpeters play for half an hour from the top of the tower. Duke

Leopold III of Austria (Habsburg) Leopold III (1 November 1351 – 9 July 1386), known as the Just, a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1365. As head and progenitor of the Leopoldian line, he ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Carinthia, Styria ...

granted Bülach a town charter in 1384, including its own jurisdiction and the right to hold its own market.

Economy and transport

One of the most important institutions in the town and its biggest employer (over 700 employees) is the regional hospita
Spital Bülach
with 200 beds. Other important employers include the traditional

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

produce
Vetropack
civil engineering firm Mageba, and the Zürcher Unterländer newspaper. Bülach has an unemployment rate of 3.07%. , there were 130 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 36 businesses involved in this sector. 1893 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 133 businesses in this sector. 5596 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 607 businesses in this sector. Bülach railway station is a node of the Zürich S-Bahn on the lines S41 and S9. Its train station is a 24-minute (S9) ride from

Zürich Hauptbahnhof Zürich Hauptbahnhof, often shortened to Zürich HB or just HB, and known in English as Zurich Main Station, is the largest railway station in Switzerland and one of the busiest in Europe. It is a major railway hub, with services to and from a ...

. It also has a direct bus link from

which takes 25 minutes on 530 service.

Education

The primary schools include ''Schuleinheit Böswisli'', ''Schuleinheit Schwerzgrueb'', ''Schuleinheit Lindenhof'', and ''Schuleinheit Hohfuri''. Lower secondary schools include ''Schule Hinterbirch'' and ''Schule Mettmenriet''.Schule Mettmenriet
" ''Sekundarskule Bülach''. Retrieved on April 23, 2015. The '' Kantonsschule Zürcher Unterland'' (KZU) is located in Bülach.

Notable people

* Sir John Brunner (born 1842) British Industrialist * Jürg Gutknecht (born 1949) computer scientist * Daniel Klajner (born 1963) conductor, teaches orchestral conducting at the

University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university established in 1817 located in Vienna. With a student body of over three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of t ...

* Claude Meier (born 1964)

Divisional general Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

of the

Swiss Armed Forces The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

; Sport * Kurt Klingler (born 1928) former sports shooter, competed in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

* Karl Elsener (1934–2010) football goalkeeper, 34 caps for the

1958/1966 * Louis Pfenninger (born 1944) former racing cyclist, competed in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

* Ercüment Şahin (born 1968) Turkish retired professional footballer, over 360 club caps * Marcello Marrocco (born 1969) a retired Italian professional footballer, over 325 club caps * Martin Plüss (born 1977) retired professional ice hockey player *

Nicola Spirig Nicola Spirig Hug (born 7 February 1982) is a Swiss lawyer and former professional triathlete. She is the 2012 Olympic and six times European champion in women's triathlon. Career Nicola Spirig is a five times Olympian. She was Olympic champion ...

(born 1982) professional triathlete, competed in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

* Sarah Meier (born 1984) former figure skater, eight-time Swiss national champion * Christine Meier (born 1986) ice hockey player *

Reto Berra Reto Berra (born 3 January 1987) is a Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently playing for HC Fribourg-Gottéron of the National League (ice hockey), National League (NL). Berra played seven seasons in Switzerland's National Leag ...

(born 1987) professional ice hockey goaltender * Martina van Berkel (born 1989) butterfly swimmer, competed in the

* Ramona Elsener (born 1992) ice dancer * Eddy Yusof (born 1994) male artistic gymnast, lives in Bülach *

Niels Hintermann Niels Hintermann (born 5 May 1995) is a Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Bülach, Zürich, he specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G. Career Hintermann made his World Cup debut at age 20 in November 2015 at La ...

(born 1995) World Cup alpine ski racer * Nico Georgiadis (born 1996) chess grandmaster

References

External links

Official Homepage of Bülach
*
Spital Bülach

Vetropack

Sigristenkeller Art Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulach Cities in Switzerland Municipalities of the canton of Zürich