Zürich im Mittelpunkt

The Central Library collects everything related to Zurich. From the writings of Zwingli to Züri comics, we preserve the cultural heritage of our city and canton. The Zurich Collection contains countless stories. Here we tell some of them.

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Zürichs offene Drogenszene

January 2026. 1996 verankert Zürich die ärztliche Opioidabgabe an Suchtkranke rechtlich. Damit endet die offene Drogenszene in der Stadt, in der über die Jahre hund...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Meat feast: the ‘Metzgete’

November 2025. It will soon be Metzgete season again, the most exciting time of the year for meat-lovers and black pudding aficionados. What is this traditional meal...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

By women – female artists from Zurich, past and present

August 2025. In autumn 2025, the exhibition ‘In Frauenhand | In Her Hand’ at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich focused on the work of female artists from the 17th to th...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

From waves to particles: Schrödinger and Heitler in Zurich

June 2025. 2025 marks the centenary of quantum mechanics. Alongside the physicists Gregor Wentzel and Wolfgang Pauli, who we have discussed previously, two other...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825–1898)

April 2025. 11 October 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Zurich-based poet Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Inspired by his estate, which is held by the...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Superstition in the canton of Zurich

March 2025. Revenants, omens and healing coffin nails – Zurich’s community chronicles tell of a world that was still enchanted in the 19th and early 20th centurie...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

What holds the world together at its core – Zurich and the birth of quantum mechanics

January 2025. The formulation of quantum mechanics in 1925 fundamentally changed our understanding of reality. LED lights, lasers, GPS and medical imaging processes...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Cotton – a thread of fate for the Zurich Oberland

October 2024. The cotton industry and industrialisation have shaped the Zurich Oberland, transforming the ‘dark hinterland’ into ‘Switzerland’s Manchester’. Who wer...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

A playful way to defend your homeland – military cartography in Zurich

July 2024. Wars in the east reveal that the Swiss military is behind the times, with many Zurich-based officers believing that they need to fill gaps in their ow...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

The guilds of Zurich

April 2024. Every April, the guilds of Zurich don their costumes, saddle up their horses, decorate their floats and celebrate the ‘Sechseläuten’ spring festival....

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Bookmaking – a foray through the history of publishing in Zurich

March 2024. Publishers straddle the divide between culture and business – two spheres that cannot be easily combined. Nevertheless, courageous book-lovers in Zuri...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Money makes the world go round – a century of success for cooperative housing in Zurich

January 2024. A century ago, Zurich’s Grand Council made a political decision that has had a lasting impact on the city ever since: it issued new regulations for th...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Zurich by Wick

October 2023. Zurich-based canon Johann Jakob Wick (1522–1588) spent almost 30 years collecting and recording news from his hometown and around the world. Known as...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Beloved by children, a bête noire for adults: Globi at the Zentralbibliothek

August 2023. Originally an advertising mascot for the Globus department store, Globi the cartoon bird has dominated the world of Swiss children’s literature since...

Zürich im Mittelpunkt

Nägeli’s postbox – Zurich’s music publisher at work

July 2023. In the early 19th century, Hans Georg Nägeli (1773–1836) was Zurich’s most important music publisher, a busy music teacher and a pugnacious politician...