Wasserkirche

The Wasserkirche occupies a narrow spit of land in Zurich's Altstadt where the Limmat nearly encircles it on three sides, giving the late-Gothic hall church the appearance of a floating island when viewed from the riverbank. According to local legend, the Roman soldiers Felix and Regula were beheaded on this site in the 3rd century before becoming Zurich's patron saints — a tradition that drew medieval pilgrims to the spot for centuries. Huldrych Zwingli repurposed the building as a public library between 1525 and 1534, a characteristically reformist gesture of opening sacred space to secular learning. The interior today is plainly Reformed — whitewashed walls, no figural decoration. The most arresting view is from the Limmat embankment, where the slender Gothic choir appears to rise directly out of the river.

Originally on an island in the Limmat, now on Limmatquai — late Gothic, small nave, Augusto Giacometti windows.