Altstadt and the two churches
The Grossmünster with its Giacometti windows, facing the Fraumünster and its Chagalls.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
Mornings, for the windows
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The two churches face each other across the Limmat and tell the same story from opposite ends. The Grossmünster is the cradle of the Swiss Reformation: Zwingli preached here from 1519, and it was from that pulpit that the stripping of Zurich's churches began.
The modern glass is the draw in both. The Fraumünster carries five windows by Marc Chagall, installed in 1970, including a deep blue that only shows in morning sun. The Grossmünster answers with Augusto Giacometti's, and Sigmar Polke's translucent agate windows, sliced from stone rather than painted.
Getting there
Either side of the Münsterbrücke, in the centre. Tram to Helmhaus or Paradeplatz, five minutes on foot.
Rules on site
Photography is banned inside the Fraumünster, and it is enforced: the Chagall windows do not come home as pictures. Both churches close to visitors during services.