Küsnacht
Encyclopedia
Küsnacht is a municipality
in the district of Meilen
in the canton
of Zurich in Switzerland
.
Earliest findings of settlement date back to the stone age. There are also findings from the Bronze Age. During Roman times, a mansion was located on the commons. It was called fundus Cossiniacus which is probably the origin of the name of Küsnacht. In the 7th century the name was recorded as Chussenacho. The coat of arms shows a golden cushion on a red background. It is probably a derivate of the coat of arms of the aristocrats of Küssnacht am Rigi
.
In the Middle Ages, the land was governed by the people of Regensberg
who lived in the castle of Wulp
in Küsnacht. After 1531 Küsnacht was governed by Zurich
.
Like most other municipalities along Lake Zürich
, Küsnacht started to become a suburb of the city of Zürich
with the development of the railway link in 1896.
The psychiatrist Carl Jung
had his clinic in Küsnacht, which attracted patients from all over the world. Thomas Mann
lived in Küsnacht between 1933 and 1939, after he was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis. Among the most famous residents of the town is Tina Turner
.
It is located on the north-east bank (also known as Goldküste) of the Lake Zurich
in the Pfannenstiel
region. The local dialect is called Züridütsch.
In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP
which received 32.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
(30.5%), the SPS
(12.4%) and the CSP
(8.9%).
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 23.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Küsnacht about 84.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
). There are 5843 households in Küsnacht.
Küsnacht has an unemployment rate of 1.51%. , there were 167 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 43 businesses involved in this sector. 849 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 91 businesses in this sector. 3794 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 664 businesses in this sector. 40% of the working population were employed full-time, and 60% were employed part-time.
there were 3578 Catholics
and 5417 Protestants
in Küsnacht. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 49.5% were some type of Protestant, with 48% belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church
and 1.5% belonging to other Protestant churches. 26.6% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 2% were Muslim, 4.4% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.7% did not give a religion, and 15.2% were atheist or agnostic.
The historical population is given in the following table:
. The wettest month is August during which time Küsnacht receives an average of 139 mm (5.5 in) of precipitation. During the wettest month, August, there is precipitation for an average of 12.3 days. The month with the most precipitation days is June, with an average of 13.3 days but with only 138 mm (5.4 in) of precipitation.
are both stops of the S-Bahn Zürich on the lines S6
and S16
.
In the summer there are regular boats to Zurich as well as along the lake to Rapperswil
, run by the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft
(ZSG).
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Meilen
Meilen (district)
Meilen District is one of the twelve districts of the German-speaking canton of Zurich, Switzerland. It lies to the south of the canton in the Pfannenstiel region, forming much of the northern shore of Lake Zurich. The district capital is the town of Meilen....
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Zurich in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
History
Küsnacht is first mentioned in 1188 as de Cussenacho.Earliest findings of settlement date back to the stone age. There are also findings from the Bronze Age. During Roman times, a mansion was located on the commons. It was called fundus Cossiniacus which is probably the origin of the name of Küsnacht. In the 7th century the name was recorded as Chussenacho. The coat of arms shows a golden cushion on a red background. It is probably a derivate of the coat of arms of the aristocrats of Küssnacht am Rigi
Küssnacht
Küssnacht am Rigi is a district and municipality in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland, consisting of three villages: Küssnacht, Immensee and Merlischachen...
.
In the Middle Ages, the land was governed by the people of Regensberg
Regensberg
Regensberg is a municipality in the district of Dielsdorf in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It is located just to the west of Dielsdorf, on a ridge of the Lägern .-History:...
who lived in the castle of Wulp
Ruine Wulp
The ruins of Wulp Castle is a castle located in Küsnacht, Zurich, Switzerland, built during the high Middle Ages. Despite this, the castle is documented only in a few found texts, and much of the castle's history is not known...
in Küsnacht. After 1531 Küsnacht was governed by Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
.
Like most other municipalities along Lake Zürich
Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....
, Küsnacht started to become a suburb of the city of Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
with the development of the railway link in 1896.
The psychiatrist Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
had his clinic in Küsnacht, which attracted patients from all over the world. Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
lived in Küsnacht between 1933 and 1939, after he was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis. Among the most famous residents of the town is Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
.
Geography
Küsnacht has an area of 12.3 km² (4.7 sq mi). Of this area, 34.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 32.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.5%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 25.6% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (7%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 0.4% of the area. 33% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction.It is located on the north-east bank (also known as Goldküste) of the Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....
in the Pfannenstiel
Pfannenstiel (Zürich)
Pfannenstiel is a wooded mountain respectively a region overlooking the Lake Zürich and Zürcher Oberland in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.- Geography :...
region. The local dialect is called Züridütsch.
Demographics
Küsnacht has a population (as of ) of . , 19.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 47.4% male and 52.6% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6.6%. Most of the population speaks German (86.1%), with English being second most common ( 3.6%) and Italian being third ( 2.5%).In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
which received 32.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....
(30.5%), the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(12.4%) and the CSP
Christian Social Party (Switzerland)
The Christian Social Party is a political party in Switzerland. The CSP is more social democratic than the CVP. With the moderate Christian left as its background, the CSP commits itself to social democratic and environmentalist political solutions...
(8.9%).
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 23.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Küsnacht about 84.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). There are 5843 households in Küsnacht.
Küsnacht has an unemployment rate of 1.51%. , there were 167 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 43 businesses involved in this sector. 849 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 91 businesses in this sector. 3794 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 664 businesses in this sector. 40% of the working population were employed full-time, and 60% were employed part-time.
there were 3578 Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and 5417 Protestants
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in Küsnacht. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 49.5% were some type of Protestant, with 48% belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
and 1.5% belonging to other Protestant churches. 26.6% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 2% were Muslim, 4.4% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.7% did not give a religion, and 15.2% were atheist or agnostic.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1467 | 126 households |
| 1634 | 1,064 |
| 1799 | 1,512 |
| 1850 | 2,486 |
| 1900 | 3,391 |
| 1950 | 8,920 |
| 2000 | 12,484 |
Weather
Küsnacht has an average of 136 days of rain per year and on average receives 1171 mm (46.1 in) of precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
. The wettest month is August during which time Küsnacht receives an average of 139 mm (5.5 in) of precipitation. During the wettest month, August, there is precipitation for an average of 12.3 days. The month with the most precipitation days is June, with an average of 13.3 days but with only 138 mm (5.4 in) of precipitation.
Transportation
The railway stations of Küsnacht and Küsnacht GoldbachKüsnacht Goldbach railway station
Küsnacht Goldbach is a railway station in Switzerland, situated near to the banks of Lake Zurich in the village of Goldbach, which is itself in the municipality of Küsnacht. The station is a stop of the S-Bahn Zürich on the lines S6 and S16.- References :...
are both stops of the S-Bahn Zürich on the lines S6
S6 (ZVV)
The S6 is a regional railway line of the S-Bahn Zürich on the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund , Zürich transportation network, and is one of the network's lines connecting the cantons of Zürich and Aargau.- Route :...
and S16
S16 (ZVV)
The S16 is a regional railway line of the S-Bahn Zürich on the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund , Zürich transportation network, and is one of the network's lines connecting the cantons of Zürich and Schaffhausen.- Route :...
.
In the summer there are regular boats to Zurich as well as along the lake to Rapperswil
Rapperswil
Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen, and Wurmsbach.-Today:On...
, run by the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft
Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft
The Lake Zurich Shipping Company or Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft is a public Swiss company operating passenger ships and boats on Lake Zürich....
(ZSG).
Sites of interest
Apart from Lake Zurich, popular sites to visit include- C. G. Jung InstituteC. G. Jung Institute in ZürichThe C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland was founded in 1948 by the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of Analytical Psychology...
- the Cistercian abby of Kappel am AlbisKappel am AlbisKappel am Albis is a municipality in the district of Affoltern in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.Its name of Kappel is specified by "on the Albis" to distinguish it from two other villages called Kappel in Switzerland.-History:...
- Küsnachter Tobel with hiking trails among glacial moraineMoraineA moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
with rare flora and fauna - JohanniterkomtureiKnights HospitallerThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
building (today housing the Kantonsschule) - Oberen Mühle, a mill that now houses the local museum
- Seeclub KüsnachtSeeclub KüsnachtSeeclub Küsnacht is a Swiss rowing club located on the eastern side of Lake Zurich in the municipalitity of Küsnacht. The club was founded in 1934 by Max Wettstein....
boathouse dating from at least 1290 - the church of St Georg dating from the 12th century
- Ruine Wulp - Ruins of castle Wulp
Past & Current Küsnacht Residents
- Georg C. F. GreveGeorg C. F. GreveGeorg C. F. Greve is a self-taught software developer, academically trained physicist and author. He has been working on technology politics since 2001 when he founded the Free Software Foundation Europe....
- physicist, author and entrepreneur - Otto Frederick HunzikerOtto Frederick HunzikerOtto Frederick Hunziker was a pioneer in the American and international dairy industry, as both an educator and a technical innovator. Otto Hunziker was born and raised in Switzerland, emigrated to the U.S., and studied at Cornell University. He started and developed the dairy program at Purdue...
- Swiss-born American dairy educator - Meinrad LienertMeinrad LienertThe Swiss writer Meinrad Lienert is most noted for his works in the Swiss German dialect. After finishing his studies of law, he became notary in his native town of Einsiedeln...
- poet - Julius MaggiJulius MaggiJulius Michael Johannes Maggi was a Swiss entrepreneur, inventor of precooked soups and the Maggi spice. He was the youngest of five children of Michael Maggi, an immigrant from Italy, and his Swiss wife Sophie. He died in 1912 after a stroke...
- food scientist and entrepreneur - Tina Turner - entertainer
- Marie-Louise von FranzMarie-Louise von FranzMarie-Louise von Franz was a Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar.-Early life and education:Von Franz was born in Munich, Germany, the daughter of an Austrian baron. In Switzerland, she was known by a pet form of her Christian name, Marlus.-Career:Von Franz worked with Carl Jung, whom she met in...
- Jungian psychologist and scholar - Albin ZollingerAlbin ZollingerAlbin Zollinger was a Swiss writer.- Life :Albin Zollinger was the son of a precision mechanic and grew up in Rüti, Zürich and Argentina, where his parents unsuccessfully tried to establish a secure existence for the family...
- writer - Kimi RäikkönenKimi RäikkönenKimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
- formula driver - Carl Jung - psychiatrist
- Hannu TihinenHannu TihinenHannu Tihinen is a retired Finnish footballer who played as a defender.He has played for clubs in Finland, Norway, England, Belgium and Switzerland.-Club career:...
- footballer - Ari SulanderAri SulanderAri Sulander, also nicknamed Sulo , is a professional ice hockey goaltender.-Career in Finland:...
- ice hockey goalie
External links
- Official page (German)