Paradeplatz

Paradeplatz is a square a few minutes' walk from the lake and from the Limmat, roughly halfway along Bahnhofstrasse, and it is the best-known address in Swiss finance. Zürich became one of the world's main banking centres in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the large banks and insurance companies built their headquarters in the streets around the square, so that the name Paradeplatz is often used as shorthand for the Swiss financial world. The buildings that frame it are solid, imposing structures of stone, with columns, cornices and heavy doors, and they reflect the confidence of institutions that wanted to look permanent.

In daily life the square is first of all a tram junction. Many tram lines meet or cross here, and at any hour the open space is filled with the sound of bells and the movement of trams and people changing lines, so it is one of the busiest points in the city. A large shelter in the middle gives passengers some protection from the weather, and benches and tram stops are surrounded by cars, delivery vehicles and bicycles. The pace is quick during the week, with office workers and commuters, and noticeably calmer on weekends. For visitors, it is a useful place to orient yourself, because the main shopping street runs straight through it, with the station to the north and the lake to the south.

One of the oldest institutions on the square is the Confiserie Sprüngli, a confectioner that has been in business since the nineteenth century and has its flagship shop and café at Paradeplatz. It is the best-known source of Zürich's most famous sweet, the Luxemburgerli, a small, light macaron-like cake with a creamy filling, which is sold by the dozen in neat boxes, and of chocolate, pastries and ice cream. The café on the upper floor is a favourite place for a morning coffee or an afternoon break, though it can be crowded, and the products make popular gifts. A grand hotel also stands on the square, and the area is lined with jewellers, watchmakers and private banks, which add to its air of understated wealth.

The square was not always so grand. Before the modern city developed, the site was a market place on the edge of the old town, and its transformation came with the building of Bahnhofstrasse in the 1860s, when the old moat was filled in and the new street linked the station to the lake. The square became a focus of the new commercial district, and the banks that followed turned it into the financial centre of the country. Today, beneath the paving, the vaults and strongrooms of the banks are the stuff of legend, though they are not open to visitors.

From Paradeplatz it is a short walk to some of the city's best-known sights. The Fraumünster church with its Chagall windows, the Lindenhof hill and the old town streets lie to the east, and Bürkliplatz and the lake are a few minutes to the south. The square is open at all hours and free to visit, and it suits anyone passing through, particularly those interested in urban life and architecture. A short stop of ten minutes is enough, longer if you visit the confectioner. Take care with the trams and cyclists when crossing.