Grossmünster

The Grossmünster is a Romanesque collegiate church from the early 12th century whose twin towers form the defining silhouette of Zürich's old town across the Limmat. A founding legend ties the site to Charlemagne, said to have built a chapel over the graves of the city's patron saints Felix and Regula — what archaeology actually confirms are Carolingian foundations from the 8th century. The church's most consequential chapter began in 1519, when Huldrych Zwingli launched his systematic Bible lectures here, igniting the Swiss Reformation and setting off a theological movement that reshaped northern Europe. The deliberately plain Protestant interior gains an unexpected counterpoint from Sigmar Polke's luminous agate-and-glass windows installed in the apse in 2009. Climbing the Karlsturm rewards visitors with a panorama stretching over the old town, Lake Zürich, and on clear days, the Alps.

11th-century landmark, the starting point of Zwingli's Reformation, with Chagall windows in the choir.