Volkshaus

Aussersihl is a district in the Swiss city of Zürich. Known officially as District number 4, the district is known as colloquially Chreis Cheib, cheib being the Zürich German word for an animal cadaver. It earned the name as the area historically contained pits for the deposition of dead animals. It comprises the quarters Werd, Langstrasse and Hard.

The Helvetiaplatz in Zürich is located in the District 4 (ger.: Kreis 4) at the corner Langstrasse and Stauffacherstrasse. The first project of pastor Ernst Sieber's Sozialwerke Pfarrer Sieber for homeless people started at Helvetiaplatz in winter 1963; the foundation is still based in Zürich-Aussersihl. The place is well known because of the demonstrations on 1 May and against the World Economic Forum. Otherwise peaceful and multicultural events or demonstrations take place there. In the years 2006 and 2007 there was a great champion celebration after the FCZ (one of Zurichs Soccer Teams) won the Swiss Axpo Super League. Every Tuesday and Friday from 6 to 11 o'clock you can find a market with a wide range of food products. Directly at the Helvetiaplatz you can find the Volkshaus where there are regular events such as concerts or parties. Next to the Helvetiaplatz is the Kanzleiareal with a schoolhouse, the cultural centre called Kanzlei and the alternative Cinema and Bar named Xenix.

Langstrasse (literally "long street") is a street and quarter in district 4 in Zürich. Langstrasse begins near the district courts and extends north-northeast to the train tracks of Zürich Hauptbahnhof. The following short segment of Langstrasse leads towards Limmatplatz in district 5. Langstrasse is also referred to as a general area including the street and its surrounding tertiary streets. The quarter has a population of 10,500 on an area of 1.13 km². It is notorious as Zürich's red light district, with an above-average crime rate, drug dealing and brothels. It is also the most overtly multicultural spot in Zürich, with a rate of 42% foreign residents, among the highest in Zürich. Due to the problems in this district, the City Council approved the comprehensive project "Langstrasse PLUS" on 14 March 2001 to achieve an improvement in public order and safety. As the historical quarter of factory workers during Industrialisation, Aussersihl is also the traditional center of socialist and communist agitation in Zürich, the Helvetiaplatz on Langstrasse being a traditional site of May Day manifestations. Langstrasse is currently undergoing a process of gentrification in certain areas, spurring public debate both in the quarter and city-at-large regarding its social, spatial, and economic future.

The Gefängnis Zürich (Zürich Prison) is a prison in the city of Zürich, Switzerland, located at the Rotwandstrasse.

The Ristorante Cooperativo, colloquially known as Coopi, is a restaurant in Zürich, Switzerland, known for its association with 20th-century left-wing political figures as well as the anti-fascist, trade union and Italian immigrant movements in Switzerland. The restaurant's roots are in the Società Cooperativa Italiana Zurigo, founded by Italian immigrants in 1905 for "furthering Socialist cooperation". Apart from a library, the society also founded the Ristorante Cooperativo to allow immigrants to eat at affordable prices, and continues to operate it today. During World War II, the Cooperativo became a nexus of Socialist resistance against European Fascism, as many exiled Italian socialists fled to Switzerland. Among them was Filippo Turati, the founder of the Italian Socialist Party, whose bust still graces the restaurant. The Coopi was also where the Avanti! and L'Avvenire dei Lavoratori were being edited during the war years. These newspapers, the only Italian-language media in opposition to the Fascist regime at the time, were regularly being smuggled from Zürich to Italy in double-bottomed suitcases. In the post-war years, the restaurant became a meeting-point of the Zürich left-wing intelligentsia, particularly during the student movement's heyday in the late 1960s. The later Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger was among the Coopi's regular guests as a student. Led by the later National Councillor Ezio Canonica, the Coopi was also the base of the opponents of James Schwarzenbach's anti-immigration initiatives of the 1960s. In its time, the Coopi has seen many internationally famous patrons. While still a member of the Italian Socialist Party, the later Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ate at the Coopi in 1913 after speaking at the May Day festivities in Zürich. Vladimir Lenin is reported to have eaten his last meal in Switzerland at the Coopi before covertly traveling to Russia in 1917, and the German communist writer Bertolt Brecht also patronised the restaurant during his stay in Switzerland. Brecht is said to have asked why the restaurant had a portrait of Karl Marx but lacked those of Soviet leaders Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and was told that the Coopi was "not a place for dictators, not even on the walls". More recently, Gerhard Schröder, then still Chancellor of Germany, ate at the restaurant after opening a Schang Hutter vernissage in 2004. Originally located at the Zwinglistrasse, the restaurant moved to the Militärstrasse 36 in 1912 and to the Strassburgstrasse 5, in 1970 (47.3727°N 8.5282°E / 47.3727; 8.5282 (Ristorante Cooperativo (1970-2008))). In 2006, the media reported that the Coopi may have to close its doors in 2007 because the city government intends to increase the rent for the restaurant building which it owns. According to the Società Cooperativa, replacing the 1970s flexible rent arrangement with a current market level rent would ruin the restaurant. In 2008, it moved to St. Jakobstrasse 6 (47.3737°N 8.5281°E / 47.3737; 8.5281 (Ristorante Cooperativo (location since 2008))).

Stauffacher is a tram junction (lines 2, 3, 8, 9, 14) in Aussersihl, Zurich, next to the St. Jakob church, situated along the Badenerstrasse between the Bäcker and the Stauffacher streets. The tram stop was named after the street, which had been named for Werner Stauffacher in 1893. Stauffacher is officially just the name of the tram stop, not the square, and there was formerly a Stauffacherplatz some 200 m farther along the street towards the Sihl (named in 1898). Since the name of the tram stop induced common usage to associate Stauffacherplatz with the tram stop, leading to confusion with the actual Stauffacherplatz, the latter was renamed to Ernst-Nobs-Platz in 2003. St. Jakob was the site of a sick-house outside the town of Zurich and an associated chapel since the 11th century. The first historical mention of the St. Jakob church dates to 1221. It was the site of the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl in 1443. In 1677, the sick-house was transformed into a Pfrundhaus (senior citizens' residence), disestablished in 1842. The current St. Jakob church building was inaugurated in 1901.

The Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl was a battle of the Old Zürich War that occurred on July 22, 1443, resulting in a defeat for Zürich. The battle took place outside the gates of Zürich, beyond the Sihl (today's Aussersihl district). The troops of Zürich, with Habsburg reinforcements, met the attacking confederates on the Sihlfeld north of St. Jakob on July 21. The confederation army, which numbered about 6,000 men, was met by Zürich's disorganized troops and about 500 Austrian knights. The following morning the confederation army attacked the front and then the left flank of the army. Zürich's forces were pushed back and had to escape across the Sihl into the city. The confederates did not have the means to lay siege to the city and withdrew. The defeat of Zürich was thus not decisive, and the war continued until 1446. The commander of the Habsburg forces, Albrecht Freiherr von Bussnang, was killed behind the altar of the St. Jakob chapel. According to Zürich chroniclers, Zürich's burgomaster Rudolf Stüssi fell at this battle amongst the defenders of the bridge across the Sihl. Stüssi was covering his troops' retreat when he was killed by a confederate hiding below the bridge.This account, which emphasizes the burgomaster's bravery, is considered Zürich propaganda by historians. Another version of the story has Stüssi stopping in the middle of the bridge, brandishing his broad battle-axe and shouting, "Halt, citizens, halt!" To this a man of Zurich cried, "May God's lightning blast thee! All this evil comes from thee alone," and ran him through with his lance.Additional accounts from Zürich chronicles state that the city was saved by the gatekeeper's wife, one Anna Ziegler, who managed to lower the portcullis of the Rennweg gate just as the pursuing confederates were about to enter the city.

Werd is a quarter in district 4, Aussersihl in Zürich, Switzerland. The three quarters of district 4, Aussersihl are Werd, Langstrasse and Hard. Werd is the southernmost quarter of district 4 and it borders with the Langstrasse, Quarter of district 4 to the north; the City Quarter of district 1, Altstadt to the east; the Sihlfeld Quarter of district 3, Wiedikon to the west, and the Enge Quarter of district 2, West side of the Lake to the south. Werd (an old German word for river island) was formerly a municipality of Aussersihl, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1893. The separation into the current districts 3, 4 and 5 dates to 1913. Werdinsel refers to the name of the district, but it is a Limmat island situated in Zürich-Höngg.

The Zürich Islamic center shooting occurred on 19 December 2016 in the Zürich Islamic Center in Central Zürich. Three people were injured when a gunman opened fire in the center, though all survived. The perpetrator, who had stabbed a former friend to death the day prior to the shooting, died by suicide after fleeing the scene. The assailant was identified as Manuel O., a 24-year-old Swiss man of Ghanaian descent living in Uster who was known to have an interest in the occult. The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland claimed the attacker was motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, though this was questioned by the gunman's family.

Zürich Selnau, (German: Zürich Selnau or Bahnhof Selnau), is an underground railway station on the Zürich S-Bahn system in Selnau in the centre of the Swiss city of Zürich. The station is on a section of tunnel common to the Uetliberg line and the Sihltal line, both of which are operated by the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU).The original Bahnhof Selnau was an above-ground terminal station, serving as the Zürich city terminus of both the Uetliberg and Sihltal lines. It first opened in 1875 to serve the Uetliberg line, and was reached by the Sihltal line in 1892.In 1990, the two lines were extended to an underground terminus at Zürich Hauptbahnhof via a tunnel running under and along the River Sihl. The original Bahnhof Selnau was by-passed by this line, and a new underground intermediate station was provided adjacent to the former terminus. The original terminal was then redeveloped.The station is served by the following passenger trains: The underground station has two tracks, served by a central platform. The platform has access to the street at each end, with the northern access emerging through an unusual mid-river structure within the River Sihl.

Zürich Wiedikon railway station (German: Bahnhof Zürich Wiedikon) is a railway station on the Zürich S-Bahn system in Wiedikon in the western part of the Swiss city of Zürich. It is the only railway station in Switzerland where the reception building is located like a bridge across the tracks – in German called Reiterbahnhof. The station is served by S-Bahn trains on the Lake Zürich left bank line approaching the city from the south and south-east directions. InterCity and InterRegio trains and the accelerated S25 service bypass the station through the Zimmerberg Base Tunnel since 2003.

The Europuddle (French: Europuddle, German: Europfütze), is a fountain completed in November 2019, located in the Europaallee area in the city centre of Zürich, Switzerland. Its name is a portmanteau derived from "Europaallee", the residential and commercial area in which it belongs, and "puddle", due to its visual appearance. Unlike a traditional fountain, the Europuddle is contained on only one side by slightly elevated white pavement stone. The tarmacadam surface beneath the water slopes gently towards the elevated pavement, making the body of water visually similar to a puddle.