Bankers & Bohemians in Zurich
Wednesday 28 September 2011By Tamara Thiessen
The Swiss financial capital is undergoing a cultural boom meaning more to do in downtime and more hotel choice says Tamara Thiessen.
For its centenary last year, Zurich’s leading museum, the Kunsthaus (kunsthaus.ch) staged a major exhibition entitled Art and Architecture to celebrate architect Karl Moser.
In 1925, the city’s “father of modernism” transformed the building on Heimplatz into a jugendstil (German art nouveau) dream of motif tiles and steel framed glass. Over the coming five years, the museum will get another major makeover, as UK architectural firm David Chipperfield steers a SFr 150 mill. (EUR 123m) museum extension that will add 15,000 sq.m of exhibition space, an art garden and recreation zones.
“We are about to take a great leap forward in terms of showing off the collection, which includes a wide range of French paintings along with highlights such as Giacometti, Munch, classical modernism, 17th-century Dutch painting and Italian Baroque,” says Kunsthaus spokesman Bjorn Quellenberg.
The project is a prime example of the cultural revolution gripping the banking city. Hans Peter Kaiser, manager of the historic 4-star Hotel Adler (hotel-adler.ch) in Zurich’s old town, the Altsadt, believes an attitude shift has led to the city’s long-established cultural riches being more vigorously promoted and funded.
“It’s transforming from a stubborn city dominated by a Lutheran mindset to a relaxed and open place,” he says. “We still have the reputation of being a business city, with IBM’s European headquarters and Swiss Life relocating here, and all the major banks based here, but a lot of the current growth is being driven by the cultural sector.”
Peter Haerle, director of Zurich City Council’s cultural department agrees there’s a significant sea change, with culture “the most dynamic sector of the economy”. “The creative sector has begun to emerge from the shadow of the banking industry and has established itself as a very strong second economic sector,” he says.
The industry is currently worth SFr14billion (EUR11.5b) a year, or 7.7% of GDP, with a tenth of Zurich’s workforce employed in the cultural-creative sector.
“The development and promotion of Zurich as a cultural and creative city is now one of the city’s main goals,” says Haerle.
Alongside the Kunsthaus facelift, is a SFr111million (EUR91m) extension of the Landesmuseum (nationalmuseum.ch), scheduled for completion next year. Like many cultural projects, it is being funded by private sponsors as well as national and local government.
Meanwhile, the Löwenbräu Zürich, a contemporary arts centre in the inner-west Escher-Wyss district, is also taking shape. “It opens its doors in summer next year and will be an important meeting point for art lovers from all over the world,” says Haerle.
A two-year renovation of the silo-topped, 1897 brewery forced its major contemporary art tenants, the Kunsthalle (kunsthallezurich.ch) and Migros Museum (migrosmuseum.ch), to move out temporarily, while a residential tower and more galleries are added.
The Löwenbräu is a prime example of Zurich’s co-operative approach to culture according to Angelica Schempp, Zurich Tourism’s market manager for Central Europe. She says that while local government is legally bound to invest in the cultural sector - banks, business and individuals play a strong sponsorship and management role.
“Several institutions, such as the Museum Rietberg (an institution dedicated to non-European art), are owned by the city. 1-1.5% of the total city budget goes to supporting culture”.
The former industrial zone of Zurich-West - “Zuri-West” as locals call it – is a hotbed of cultural and commercial developments. Squashed between the Limmat River and the train line, its old breweries, rail viaducts and soap factories are making way for dance projects, relocated museums, apartments, spas, shops and hotels.
The transformation started a decade ago with the conversion of an old shipbuilding yard, the Schiffbau, into a performance art centre, which now houses Switzerland’s largest theatre, the Schauspielhaus (schauspielhaus.ch), along with jazz clubs and restaurants.
An old metal foundry opposite houses the arts fair venue Puls 5 (puls5.ch). Throughout the year, Zurich-West has been a vast construction site, as urban developments fusing architecture, culture, vast public spaces, concrete and glass transform its streetscapes and skyline.
One of the knock-on effects of the blooming cultural scene is a hotel boom, with many of the new and forecast hotels housed in Zurich-West, and hemmed in by restaurants, galleries and urban spaces.
The 5-star, 300-room Renaissance Zurich Tower (marriott.com) opened in August in the eye-catching Mobimo Tower. Positioning itself as a “big boutique” hotel, it has a large fitness and wellness area, several restaurants, a sun terrace, 14th-floor executive rooms with views of the city and lake, and an executive lounge.
The 4-star, B2 Boutique Hotel (bookmarkhotels.ch), is due to open in the redeveloped Hurlimann Brewery in spring 2012. Major features of the 60-room property are a thermal spa and 24-hour library bar featuring 30,000 books, and local wines by the glass.
In autumn, Germany’s 25 Hours Hotels group (25hours-hotels.com) will launch a 120-room property in the Hard Turm Park complex, a riverside shopping and residential development hinged on a vast urban space, the Turbineplatz, 12-minutes tram ride from the city.
If your trip to Zurich falls in winter, expect to be compensated in culture. Zurich Tourism’s Angelica Schempp, said the city’s cultural institutions get even more business when culture vultures are forced back indoors from months of outdoor festivals.
“The most important events at the opera, museums and theatres take place between October and April.”
Culture is clearly turning into a very big business year-round in this financial centre. Peter Kaiser has noticed a growing number of cultural tourists at his hotel as well as more co-operation between hotels and arts institutions.
“We work closely with the Kunsthaus, it regularly brings us clientele and the industry is growing fast,” he says. Getting There: Cultural Tourism:
The Zurich Opera House claims to be the first in Europe to offer foreign visitors cultural tourism packages including opera ticket, travel (return journey by train with Deutsche Bahn or with SWISS air), the ZürichCARD and an overnight hotel stay. T +41 (0) 44 268 6666 e reisen@opernhaus.ch
Visit Zurich Tourism, www.zuerich.com, to buy a 24 or72-hour Zurich Card, which provides public transport and free admission to museums and various other discounts.
Current Cultural Highlights Until January 12, the Kunsthaus (kunsthaus.ch) will feature the private collection of the Monaco-based Nahmad family, with 100 works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Modigliani and Kandinsky.
Check the web for the possibility of an artful evening at one of the late-opening ‘Kunsthaus nights’. At the Zurich Opera House, a packed program of Offenbach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Donizetti operas is being performed between now and March. (opernhaus.com).
Places to Sleep The new Renaissance Zurich Tower, (www.marriott.com, Turbinenstrasse 20) in Zurich West combines boutique style with international brand services. Dark oak design and plush furnishings in rooms, executive rooms + lounge, mood lit steakhouses, tapas and American bars, well-equipped gym + sauna. Last minute, on-line nightly rates of Sfr235.
Modern, light-filled & entirely non-smoking, the Swissotel (swissotel.com, Am Marktplatz Oerlikon, Schulstrasse 44, T +41 (0) 44 317 3111 ) tops serious meetings facilities, fine dining restaurant, bistro and bar with luxury wellness facilities (gym, pool, steam bath & Amrita Fitness & Spa). Upscale Business Advantage Rooms have an ergonomic workspace, Lavazza espresso machines, DVD players, Bogner toiletries & free Wi-Fi and satellite TV. Average room price, tax inclusive: Sfr320
In the same budding business district of Oerlikon (15-minute tram ride from the city centre and from Zürich Airport to the Oerlikon station), is the 164-room Holiday Inn Zürich-Messe opposite the Zurich Exhibition Centre.(holidayinn.com, Wallisellenstrasse 48, T 41-(0) 44-3161100. With an efficient, upbeat yet arty business image, it offers good value, with doubles priced from around Sfr210 tax inclusive, more spacious Executive rooms, free Wi-Fi throughout, and state-of-the-art meetings.