Q 01/05

Which river flows out of Lake Zurich through the city centre?

A) Limmat

B) Aare

C) Rhine

D) Sihl

Answer · why

A) Limmat

Limmat is a second name for one river: the Linth pours into the far end of Lake Zurich and leaves through the city under its new name. Downstream it j...

Q 02/05

In 1848 Zurich lost a parliamentary vote to become the seat of Switzerland's new federal government; which city won?

A) Lucerne

B) Geneva

C) Bern

D) Lugano

Answer · why

C) Bern

Bern won the vote of 28 November 1848, ahead of Zurich and Lucerne; deputies seem to have been wary of making the country's strongest centre stronger ...

Q 03/05

What did the Romans call Zurich?

A) Aventicum

B) Turicum

C) Londinium

D) Vindonissa

Answer · why

B) Turicum

Turicum is first recorded on a gravestone of about AD 200 that names the customs station there. The Romans ran it to tax goods crossing between Gaul a...

Q 04/05

On which small hill in Zurich's old town, now a quiet lookout, did the Romans build their fort?

A) Lindenhof

B) Zürichberg

C) Burghölzli

D) Uetliberg

Answer · why

A) Lindenhof

Lindenhof's fourth-century fort later gave way to a Carolingian royal palace, and Zurichers went on gathering on the hill for centuries. Today the ter...

Q 05/05

Which Carolingian king founded Zurich's Fraumünster abbey in 853 for his daughter?

A) Carloman of Bavaria

B) Louis the German

C) Lothair I

D) Arnulf of Carinthia

Answer · why

B) Louis the German

Louis the German handed the convent to his daughter Hildegard. Around 1045 it gained the rights to mint coins, levy tolls and hold markets, and its ab...