Regarded as one of the world’s most fashion-forward cities by style bibles Monocle and Wallpaper, Zurich is nothing if not a crucible of art, design and cultural trends. The city also enjoys creative freedom like nowhere else in the Alps: it’s home to more than 50 museums, 100 art galleries and a wedding-cake opera house. Here are places not to be missed during your visit.
Kunsthaus
Art-lover or not, no visit to Zurich is complete without a visit to this contemporary culture magnet. Highlights include the David Chipperfield-designed extension, which has made it the largest art museum in Switzerland and the world’s largest collection of avant-garde Dada. No wonder it has a tram stop named after it. The Merzbacher collection showcases many masterpieces created during the early 1900s, featuring big names ranging from Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso to Wassily Kandinsky.
Grossmunster & Fraumünster Churches
Of Zurich’s holy trinity of postcard-perfect churches – the other being St Peterskirche, with Europe’s largest clock face – these two monumental religious houses flank opposite banks of the Limmat River. Fraumünster’s magnificent stained glass windows, created by iconic Russian-French artist Marc Chagall, deserve more than a few minutes of your time. Chagall created the five windows and rosette in the 1970s when he was 80 years old, surprising the public for taking on such an ambitious project at such an advanced age.
