The story of this place
The twin-towered Grossmünster, whose Romanesque core dates to the 12th century, became the crucible of the Swiss-German Reformation when Huldrych Zwingli was appointed its people's priest on 1 January 1519. From this pulpit he preached directly from Scripture, condemned the Mass, stripped the church of images, and even backed the 1522 'Affair of the Sausages'—a deliberate breaking of the Lenten fast. Zwingli fell in battle at Kappel in 1531. His reforms transformed Zurich into a Protestant republic and shaped Reformed Christianity worldwide. Legend says Charlemagne founded the church after his horse knelt at the graves of Zurich's patron saints.