Central is a

public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

at the northern end of

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 ...

in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the city's public transport nodes, housing an interchange station for

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 ...

and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

lines run by the

Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Zürich, and is wholly owned by the city. Previously known as the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich (StStZ), the organisation was founded in 1896 and adopted its cu ...

. It was formerly known as Leonhardplatz or Leonhardsplatz.

Geography

Central is in fact outside of the historical core of the medieval town of Zürich, previously the Celtic-Roman ''Turicum''. It is situated at the right-hand (eastern) bank of the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The conflu ...

, the principal river flowing through the city of Zürich. It is opposite of the

Zürich Hauptbahnhof Zürich Hauptbahnhof (often shortened to Zürich HB, or just HB; ''Zürich Main Station'' or ''Zürich Central Station'') is the largest railway station in Switzerland. Zürich is a major railway hub, with services to and from across Switzerlan ...

and connected by Bahnhofbrücke, a road and tramway bridge crossing the Limmat, and connecting ''Rathaus'' and ''Lindenhof'' respectively the ''City'' and ''Unterstrass'' quarters. Situated nearby the historical Neumarkt and Niederdorf, the most remarkable landmark is the Prediger church. The former ''Leonhardplatz'' is named after the ''Central'' hotel situated there. The ''Seilergraben'', ''Weinbergstrasse'', ''Neumühlequai'' and ''Stampfenbachstrasse'' gather at the square. Redesigns of the Central–Bahnhofbrücke area occurred in 1950/51.

Transportation

Leonhardsplatz, as it was known then, first became a node in Zürich's transport system in 1889, when the

Polybahn funicular The Polybahn, also known as the UBS Polybahn, is a funicular railway in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. The line links the ''Central'' square with the terrace by the main building of ETH Zürich, which was formerly called ''Eidgenössis ...

was opened up the hill to the ''Polytechnikum'', the present

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

. In 1897, the Strassenbahn Zürich-Oerlikon-Seebach (ZOS) company made Leonhardsplatz the city terminus of their suburban tram line via Stampfenbachstrasse and Schaffhauserstrasse to Oerlikon and Seebach. Passengers were required to change at Leonhardsplatz for the separate city tramway system until 1931, when the ZOS was taken over by the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich, who operated the city's trams. Today, the Zurich

lines , , , , and , and VBZ

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

lines and provide public transportation. The Polybahn also still operates over its original route. Private road transport towards

, the largest pedestrian zone of Zurich, is restricted to the short roadway towards the Brun bridge and ''Uraniastrasse'' (

Urania Sternwarte Urania Sternwarte is a public observatory in the Lindenhof quarter of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland. Its name ''Urania'' refers to the muse of astronomy in Greek mythology. History Its origins base on a first observatory on the roof of the Zunf ...

) at the site of the former

Oetenbach nunnery Oetenbach was a Dominican nunnery in the medieval municipality of Zürich in Switzerland. Oetenbach was named after the small stream of the same name at its first location at Zürichhorn, situated outside of the European Middle Ages town walls, but ...

. Since 25 September 2004, the driving of motor vehicles, motorcycles and scooters is forbidden, except for goods transport, traffic towards Weinplatz, postal delivery services, and doctors and emergency services.

Literature

* ''Das Limmatquai vor und nach der Neugestaltung. Aufenthaltsnutzung, Fuss- und Veloverkehrsaufkommen im Vergleich der Jahre 2004-2005-2008''. Published by Tiefbau- und Entsorgungsdepartement der Stadt Zürich, Zürich 2009.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Central Zurich Altstadt (Zurich) Streets in Zurich Squares in Zurich