Zurich - Old Town streets

In Zurich's Spiegelgasse is a house (No. 17) in which Lenin lived in 1917. In this street, too, was the cabaret in which Hans Arp and Tristan Tzara launched the Dadaist movement in 1916.

In Zurich's Zeltweg lived the young authoress Johanna Spyri for 15 years; some of her work can be seen at No. 13, where the Spyri foundation is housed.

To the north of Zurich's Neumarkt stands the Predigerkirche (1611-1614), the Preachers' (i.e. Dominicans') church, an Early Baroque building with a Neo-Gothic tower. In 1917 the Gothic choir, which was added in the 14th C., became the home of the cantonal archives.

The High-Gothic choir of the Predigerkirche will be freed from its present additions and once again will be revealed in its full splendor. Between the Chorgasse and the inner courtyard of the choir a new pedestrian precinct will be a welcome addition to the Old Town.

Adjoining Zurich's Predigerkirke is the Central Library, on the site of a Dominican monastery. The buildings have recently been extended; the restored main house in the Zähringerplatz houses a special collection and the North American Library; there also is a public wing with reading rooms along the Mühlgasse, an administration block between the Seilergraben and the Chorgasse.