Schanzengraben is a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

and a section of the northwestern extension of the '' Seeuferanlage'' promenades that were built between 1881 and 1887 in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. Schanzengraben is, among the adjoint ''Katz'' bastion at the Old Botanical Garden and the so-called ''

Bauschänzli Bauschänzli is an artificial island, town square, and public park in Zürich, Switzerland. Bauschänzli (diminutive of "construction entrenchment") is one of the last remains of the Baroque fortifications of Zürich which began in 1642. The nei ...

'' bulwark, one of the last remains of the Baroque fortifications of Zürich. The area of the moat is also an inner-city recreation area and a public park.

Geography

Schanzengraben is one of the two present effluences of the

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

, located around south of the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...

, and situated at the historical '' Alpenquai'' lake shore area, between Bürkliplatz and

General-Guisan-Quai Quaianalagen (German, plural; ; from ) or Seeuferanlagen (German, plural for lakeshore sites) on Lake Zurich is a series of lakefronts in Zurich, Switzerland. Inaugurated in 1887, the quaysides are considered an important milestone in the developm ...

. It marks the border of the inner-city districts of ''Enge'' and ''City'', and flows after about into the

Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...

, at the western side of

Zürich Hauptbahnhof Zürich Hauptbahnhof, often shortened to Zürich HB or just HB, and known in English as Zurich Main Station, is the largest railway station in Switzerland and one of the busiest in Europe. It is a major railway hub, with services to and from a ...

where ''Gessnerallee'' and ''Usteristrasse'' cross the ''Gessner'' bridge. In fact, the moat was built outside of the historical core of the medieval town of Zürich, previously the Celtic-Roman ''Turicum'', an area being then called ''

Aussersihl 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 h ...

'', meaning that it was outside of the Baroque town wall at the Sihl

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

Points of interests

The lake shore area also serves as a marina associated to the

Hafen Enge Quaianalagen (German, plural; ; from ) or Seeuferanlagen (German, plural for lakeshore sites) on Lake Zurich is a series of lakefronts in Zurich, Switzerland. Inaugurated in 1887, the quaysides are considered an important milestone in the developm ...

. A narrow alley was partially built at the level of the moat, but also crosses underneath the General-Guisan-Quai and four road bridges, namely Börsenstrasse, Stockerstrasse, Pelikanstrasse and Sihlstrasse, as well as four pedestrian bridges. In addition to the so-called Seeuferanlage and its neighboring

, there is nearby the

Arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

and the

Voliere Zürich The Voliere Zürich is an aviary and veterinary hospital situated in the Arboretum in the Swiss city of Zurich. It also houses the so-called ''Vogelpflegestation'', a unique sanatory for birds. Location The aviary is situated at the Arboret ...

, Other attractions include the historical Enge quarter, but mainly the Old Botanical Garden and its arboretum. There is also a unique public bath ''just for men'' (''Männerbad'') that also serves as an event restaurant. That section of the moat is also used as a ground for canoeing and a 'water stadion' for canoe waterball. Probably the most ''natural'' part is situated nearby the mouth into the Sihl, where also some waterbirds and even fish found an inner-city refugium. Alter Botanischer Garten - Schanzengraben 2011-08-12 15-52-34.jpg, original wall at the Old Botanical Garden Schanzengraben - Männerbadi - Alter Botanischer Garten Zürich 2010-10-04 18-03-24.JPG, ''Männerbad'' and water tower of 1742 Zürich - Schanzengraben IMG 0635.JPG, nearby Sihlporte and Gessnerallee Hundert Jahre Bilder aus der Stadt Zürich - Der Bahnhof der Nordbahngesellschaft in Zürich 1847.jpg, former mouth into the

Sihl - Schanzengraben 2010-09-23 14-16-06 ShiftN.jpg, Confluence with the Sihl in 2010, near

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

As of December 2015, an association asked for a concession on an ''issue of water rights concession'' and a ''water protection legal permit'' for the ''installation of a water wheel purpose of power generation'' in the Schanzengraben moat. According to the application, at the weir near the indoor aquatic centre ''City'' estimated 3,000 liters/second drop a height of and could supply electricity for about 20 households.

History

The moat system of medieval Zurich, consisting of the internal (i.e. inside the town wall) ''Fröschengraben'', the outer ''

graben'' and the intermediate town wall was first mentioned in 1258 AD as ''niuwer graben'' (new moat), and in 1293 as ''graben ze Woloshofen Türlin'', probably meaning the moat at the

Wollishofen Wollishofen is a neighbourhood in Zürich's district 2 (Zürich), 2nd district, situated in the eastern foothills of Uetliberg. It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1893. The neighbourhood has a popul ...

gate. The present ''Schanzengraben'' was still in construction around 1300. On the ''wall gardens'', probably the area between Fröschengraben, Sihlgraben and Schanzengraben, a house is mentioned in 1346, and in 1537 the area of the outer trench was named ''Sprachhüsli'', meaning a public toilet. Over the decades, the time accumulating sludge was periodically dug out by day laborers or in forced labor to process. The excavation was used to fertilize the fields of the

Oetenbach nunnery Oetenbach was a Dominican Order, Dominican nunnery in the medieval Municipalities of the canton of Zürich, municipality of Zürich in Switzerland. Oetenbach was named after the small stream of the same name at its first location at Zürichhorn, s ...

. Due to its former military defensive use, the moat has a widely octagonal ''zig-zag'' form, and was completed as part of the Baroque

fortifications of Zurich Zürich was an independent (''reichsfrei'') city or city-state from 1218 to 1798. The town was fortified with a city wall from the 13th to the 17th century, and with more elaborate ramparts constructed in the 17th to 18th century and mostly demoli ...

around 1642 AD. Being once the moat outside the town wall, the bulwark "Zur Katz" was the former easterly gunnery bastion of the city fortification. In 1830 the moat was redesigned as the second effluence of Lake Zurich, then redirected to the Sihl, and therefore it 'survived' the demolition of the Baroque fortification system. ''Männerbad Schanzengraben'' was built in 1864, as a logical 'counterpart' to the ''Frauenbad'' at the Stadthausquai, being the historical men's bath. During the industrialization, on the node's banks settled various factories, and so Schanzengraben degenerated over time to an unattractive factory channel. The water tower, a local landmark, was built in 1724, and still exists in its original construction. First discussed in 1952, the reconstruction of the moat in a pedestrian promenade was not done until 1975, however, the construction works ended in 1984.

Cultural Heritage

The Schanzengraben moat is listed in the inventory of estimable gardens and grounds of local importance. It also is listed in the

Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...

as an object of ''regional relevance''.

References

Literature

Dölf Wild Dölf Wild (born 1954) is a Swiss historian, archaeologist and science writer, and works as the chief archaeologist of the city of Zürich. He is best known for his research into the building industry of medieval Zürich and for his contribution ...

: ''Stadtmauern. Ein neues Bild der Stadtbefestigungen Zürichs'' (= ''Stadtgeschichte und Städtebau in Zürich. Schriften zu Archäologie, Denkmalpflege und Stadtplanung.'' 5). ''Schrift zur Ausstellung im Haus zum Haus zum Rech, Zürich, 6. Februar bis 30. April 2004''. Amt für Städtebau, Baugeschichtliches Archiv, Zürich 2004, . * Christine Barraud Wiener and Peter Jezler: ''Die Stadt Zürich I. Stadt vor der Mauer, mittelalterliche Befestigung und Limmatraum''. In: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich, Wiese Verlag, Basel 1999, .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schanzengraben Zurich Altstadt (Zurich) Parks in Zurich Culture of Zurich Buildings and structures completed in 1984 Geography of Zurich Fortifications of Zurich Sihl Lake Zurich Buildings and structures completed in 1642 20th-century architecture in Switzerland