Economist.com Cities Guide: Zurich Briefing - August 2005

News this month

A warm welcome

Switzerland successfully hosted a visit from the Dalai Lama in early August. The Swiss offered the Buddhist leader quiet support during his “non-political” trip and shrugged off criticism from China over his meeting with the interior minister, Pascal Couchepin. The Swiss minister said after the meeting, “We recognise China as one nation and Tibet belongs to it, but we are keen to help Tibetans preserve their own varied culture.”

Switzerland has long been a friend to Tibet's exile community. Shortly after the Dalai Lama was forced into exile in 1959, Switzerland became the first European country to open its doors to Tibetan refugees. The country is now home to nearly 3,000 Tibetans, the largest such community in Europe (many of them helped boost attendance at the Dalai Lama's twice-daily, sold-out public sessions). Nearly 30,000 people from 44 different countries attended his eight-day series of lectures at Zurich’s Hallenstadion, raising $280,000 for charity. This was the longest teaching session the Dalai Lama had given outside of India.

The gift of gold

The Swiss National Bank’s five-year-old programme to sell 1,300 tonnes of its gold stock (worth SFr21.1 billion, or $16.8 billion) came to an end earlier this year. The bank has been distributing the proceeds from the sale since May, with one-third going to the central government and two-thirds to the cantons. Zurich, which got the second-largest payout after Berne, received the last of its payments, making a total of SFr1.6 billion. The new funds reverse the canton’s fiscal position, giving it a SFr1.1 billion surplus for the year 2005, instead of a SFr485m deficit. The money will go towards improving the infrastructure of the city's buildings and train stations, and the underground railway.

Five days of protest

For five days beginning in late July, some 150 protestors made a home for themselves along the banks of the river Sihl in Zurich's centre. The activists were protesting against the city's exclusionary use of public space. Several thousand visitors came to gawk at the shantytown, as the police maintained a peaceful dialogue with the squatters. After five days of protesting, partying and playing music, the counterculture folk dismantled their community as promised, and went home.

Airport art

The latest landing at Zurich Airport's Terminal B is an exhibition. Empty since the airport's new E-Dock opened in 2003, Terminal B has been converted into an exhibition hall. Its first event, the “Airworld” show from the Vitra Design Museum, presents an architectural history of civil aviation. Fittingly, the next event is also aviation-related: an auction on September 24th-25th of objects from defunct Swissair, Switzerland's former national airline. After that, the 8,000-square-metre terminal will be available to rent for events, concerts and conventions.

Catch if you can

September 2005

“Zürcher Theater Spektakel”

Until September 4th 2005

This 18-day dance and theatre festival finishes its 25th year at the lovely Landiewiese, on the shores of Lake Zurich. From the outdoor stage to the cavernous shipyard, the festival offers restaurants, bars and performances from more than two dozen international and Swiss arts troupes. The atmosphere and fine food have turned the festival (once an insider-only tourism tip) into a popular end-of-season celebration. Visitors from distant locales join Zurichers to sit by the lake, watch the performers, picnic and bask in the pleasure of being in the right place at the right time.

For information on tickets and performances see the Zürcher Theater Spektakel website.

More from the Zurich cultural calendar