With 95’000 inhabitants, Winterthur is the 6th largest city in Switzerland. It can be easily accessed from Zurich airport within twelve minutes. A flourishing industry emerged in Winterthur during the 19th and 20th century; Sulzer and Rieter delivered thousands of machines to the whole world. Today, Winterthur has established itself in the service industries. Several globally acting companies, like the Winterthur Versicherungen, are domiciled in Winterthur.
When the Swiss elected their first president in 1848, they chose a politician from Winterthur: Jonas Furrer. His monument stands some steps from the location of the Winterthur Chess Week. Today Winterthur has only little political influence compared to the Swiss capital Bern and the economic centres of Zurich and Geneva. Instead, the biggest Swiss University of Applied Sciences is located in Winterthur. The night life, especially the numerous bars and cinemas, attract many people from the surrounding area.
Winterthur is well-known for its Old Town and its parks. It was also rewarded several prizes for its model traffic and town planning policy. During the past few years Winterthur has evolved to an insider tip for culture enthusiasts. Especially the following museums enjoy an excellent reputation and are well known far beyond the Swiss border:
- The Swiss Foundation of the Photography (Fotostiftung Schweiz) is dedicated to the preservation, acquisition and presentation of photographic works.
- The Photo Museum Winterthur is dedicated to photography as art form and document, and as a representation of reality.
- The Technorama Switzerland is a science centre offering a vivid atmosphere that encourages hands-on experiments.
- The Oskar Reinhart Foundation houses numerous pieces of art from Switzerland and abroad. It conducts the Museum Oskar Reinhart am Stadtgarten (at the moment with a special exposition showing Edouard Manet’s masterpiece “Nana” and the Sammlung Oskar Reinhart am Römerholz.
- The museum of art Winterthur is situated directly next to the playing venue!
Come to Winterthur!
