There are fourteen historical ''Zünfte'' (
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
s, singular ''Zunft'') of
Zürich
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 ...
, under the system established in 1336 with the "guild revolution" of
Rudolf Brun. They are the 13 guilds that predated 1336, plus the ''Gesellschaft zur Constaffel'', originally consisting of the city's nobles.
Guilds founded in 1336
There have been two mergers of historical guilds since, so that there are 12 contemporary ''Zünfte'' continuing the medieval guilds:
19th century guilds
In the 19th century, with the expansion of Zürich, incorporating various formerly separate villages, a number of new "guilds" were established to represent these. By this time the old guilds had ceased to be tied to specific trades and had acquired a mostly folkloristic and societal function, uniting the upper strata of old and well-to-do clans of Zürich and Ägeri.
See also
*
Sechseläuten
*
History of Zürich
*
Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster
References
External links
sächsilüüte.ch: ''Zentralkomitee der Zünfte Zürichs''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zunfte Of Zurich
History of Zurich
Guilds in Switzerland