Churches - St. Peter's, Zürich

St. Peter church (German: St. Peterskirche) it was build in 9th century and it is oldest church in Zurich. The church is famous national monument and is first Protestant religious building in the city after the Reformation. It also contain largest clock face in entire Europe and is 9m (28.5 ft.) in diameter. It has an interesting baroque interior with wall paintings.
The church was open for visitor from Monday till Friday from 8am till 6pm and Saturday from 9am till 4pm and in Sunday from noon till 5pm.
Worship was serve Sundays at the beginning in 10am.

St. Peter's church is oldest church in old Zürich. Romanesque temple was built here in year 1000. New church in late Romanesque style was built on this place in 1230. St. Peter church is known of its big clock on the tower.

St Peter's Church dates back to the eigth century but it has had many changes since that time. The major changes occurred in the 13th and 18th centuries. As you would expect, the church was lost to the Catholics in the Reformation of 1520.

During the middle ages a watchman lived in the spire (you can see windows) and his role was to look out over the city several times an hour to check for fires. (I have no idea when he had time to sleep or eat a meal in peace). Consequently Zuerich was free of major fires for many years.

This is the church with the famous clock face. It measures 8.7 metres across and has a minute hand which is 4 meters in length. this makes it the largest church clock face in all of Europe.

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Yet another of Zurich's major Altstadt churches that have claim to be the oldest (another 8th/9th century claim), St Peter's was, until the reformation, the only parish church in the city. All the other major churches were part of an Abbey.

The current church was consecrated in 1706 as the first church built under Protestant rule and, true to the style of the time, is much more ornate than the austere Abbey churches of Fraumunster and Grossemunster.

But its major claim to fame is that clockface (or more precisely, four of them) which, with a diameter of 8.7 metres, make each face the largest church clockfaces in Europe.

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Dedicated to Saint Peter, St Peterskirche is distinguishable by its tower with the largest clock in Europe. The church traces its roots at least to the 8th century AD, but it was rebuilt several times since then. The current structure was completed in 1706, and the Baroque interior conserves a few Gothic and mediaeval details from earlier structures. Like many churches around, St Peter's was originally a Catholic church but it was converted into a Protestant one after the Reformation. The current structure is considered the first built by Protestants in the city. St Peter's is located on a hill on the left bank of old Zurich, on the site of the non-extant Roman Temple of Jupiter within the castrum.

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St. Peter's Church is the oldest parish church of Zurich. The history of the Romanesque Church dates back to 857.

The tower of St. Peters's Church is home to Europe's largest clock face which is 8.7 m in diameter.

Directions:
St. Peter's Church is one of the main landmarks on the left bank of the Limmat river. The nearst tram stop is "Rathaus" (line 4, 15).

Address: St. Peter's Church, St.-Peter-Hofstatt, 8001 Zurich

Website: http://www.st-peter-zh.ch/

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The St.Peter Church is the oldest Evangelic sacral building of Zürich, and one of the most important edifices of the city.

The actually church was constructed in four stages:
The first construction of the church began in year 857 in pre Romanic style.
The building got early Romanic elements in the 10th century.
In 1230 took place a reconstruction of the church in late Romanic style.
In 1450, the church was rebuilt in Gothic style.

Some few of these architectural elements are to be seeing in the diverse parts of the church.
The edifice was destroyed in the year 1523, during the Reformation.

The large church nave of the actually building was constructed in Baroque style in the year 1705 and inaugurated in 1706.

The bell tower is a Romanesque architectural creation.
Earlier, the tower of the church served as firewatcher, and the biggest clock of Europe, with a diameter of 8,7 m, was hole-in-the-wall of the tower, in the year 1534.
The base of the tower was constructed in late Romanic style and the upper side in Gothic style.

By the reconstruction of the church in the time period 1970-1974, the original façade paintings from 1705 were recreated.

The church is a very important edifice in Zürich, situated next to the Lindenhof Park.

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St. Peter is the oldest Parish church in Zürich. What you see now is, however, a Baroque building, erected in the early 18th century. Tuscan pillars carry the ceiling - with elegant stucco works - and the balcony. The choir is the only remaining part from the late Romanesque era and is decorated with a few frescos. A rood-screen separates the choir from the main nave.

This church is a perfect example for a Zwingli-inspired preaching room: simple but elegant decoration, pulpit and font (from 1598, redesigned in the Baroque era) in central position.

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The nave of St Peter's was built in 1705-1706 as the first new church building in Zürich after the reformation. The baroque nave is surrounded by galleries on three sides. The former choir, unused since the reformation, still shows medieval elements. Remnants of medieval frescoes have survived under layers of paint and have recently been rediscovered.

Note the disposition of the interior, which is characteristic for Zürich's Zwinglian-reformed protestantism.

The reformation abandoned catholic mass rites and substituted them by plain church services, the main part of which was the sermon, in addition to lectures from the bibles and chanting of psalms. The main part of the service was (and still is) celebrated on the pulpit, not at the altar. In the main church of Zürich, the Grossmünster, reformator Huldrych Zwingli had a pulpit attached to the jube. The one in Grossmünster is gone, but in the new church of St Peter's the same position of the pulpit has been adopted. The choir arch has been closed with a wooden gallery with the pulpit in the middle.

And where is the altar? There is none. The position where one would expect the altar has been occupied by the baptismal font. In St Peter's they have flowers on it, in other churches the lid of the baptismal font carries the bible. Protestant churches in and around Zürich have no altar. For Holy Communion, which is celebrated four times a year, a table is brought in.

Zwinglian churches have no pictures either. Instead, verses from the Bible have been used as decoration in beautiful scripture, inside above the pulpit and also outside above the portals.

Opening hours: Mon - Fri 8.00 - 18.00, Sat 10.00 - 16.00, Sun 11.00 - 17.00

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The steeple of St Peter's church bears the largest clock face in Europe. It is visible, and legible, from (almost) everywhere in the old town and along the river.

In former times a watchman used to live on top of the steeple to watch out for fires.