Bauschänzli

Bauschänzli
200px Bauschänzli as seen from Bürkliplatz towards Limmatquai and Grossmünster
Location	Stadthausquai respectively Limmat in Zürich
Coordinates
Built	1662
Architectural style(s)	European Medieval
Governing body	City of Zürich

Bauschänzli is a town square and a 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 neighboring Schanzengraben (moat) and the Old Botanical Garden are part of the last remains as well. Since 1907, the island has been used as a restaurant, although it is officially a public square and park.

Geography

Bauschänzli is situated in the historical Alpenquai area on an artificial island. It is on the left-hand shore of the river Limmat, off Bürkliplatz at the Stadthausquai road and opposite Bellevueplatz. A tiny public park can also be found here.

Points of interests

File:Bauschänzli-Frauenbadi - Limmat - Fraumünsterpost-Stadthaus-Fraumünster-Münsterhof-Peter- Meisen - Lindenhof - Münsterbrücke 2012-07-30 09-00-12.jpg

Stadthausquai towards Münsterhof, Frauenbadi lido in the foreground, Zunfthaus zur Meisen and Lindenhof in the backbround.

In addition to the so-called Seeuferanlage and its neighboring Uto and General-Guisan-Quai quays, the Arboretum Zürich and the Voliere Zürich are nearby. The Voliere Zürich houses the so-called Vogelpflegestation, a unique sanctuary for birds. Other attractions include the historical Lindenhof quarter downstream the Limmat.

Today the small park is dominated by the restaurant of the same name that claims to be the biggest beer garden outside the Munich Octoberfest. The area is illuminated by the Plan Lumière of the city government of Zurich. In December, the area is also home to the Circus Conelli, the only event periodically held on the small island.

• Bauschänzli-Frauenbadi - Limmat - Fraumünsterpost-Stadthaus-Fraumünster-Münsterhof-Peter- Meisen - Lindenhof - Münsterbrücke - Wasserkirche - Limmatquai - Quaibrücke 2012-07-30 08-56-54 ShiftN.jpg

  Limmat effluence downstream Lindenhof and the historical Turicum

• Bauschänzli - Stadthausquai - Limmat - Grossmünster - Limmatquai - Quaibrücke 2012-07-30 09-01-43.jpg
• 

  The area towards the lake and the Grosser Hafner island, showing the then neigbored Grendeltor about in the 1570s

• Schanzen beim Stadelhoferbollwerk - 2014 Sechseläutenplatz-'fäscht' 2014 2014-04-26 18-22-22 (P7700).JPG

  scale model of the late medieval city, Baugeschichliches Archiv, Neumarkt, Zürich

• Circus Conelli - Bauschänzli - Münsterbrücke IMG 4326.JPG

  Circus Conelli in December

History

Prehistory

File:Zürich - Bauschänzli 1770 - Johann Balthasar Bullinger.jpg

Drawing by Johann Balthasar Bullinger showing the bulwark in 1770.

The area between Limmat and Lake Zurich around Sechseläutzenplatz and on the small islands and peninsulas in Zürichwas, was once swampland. Prehistoric pile dwellings around Zürichsee were set on piles to protect against occasional flooding by the Linth and Jona. Alpenquai is located on the Lake Zurich shore in Enge, a locality of the municipality of Zürich. It was neighbored by the settlements at Kleiner Hafner and Grosser Hafner, on what was then a peninsula (now an island) in the effluence of the Limmat. It was an area of about 0.2 square kilometres (49.42 acres) within the city of Zürich. As well as being part of the 56 Swiss sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, the settlements are also listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class object. Despite the dredging for the construction of the Seequai between 1916 and 1919, an amazingly big area of approximately 2.8 hectares (7 acres) with two cultural layers was preserved around Bauschänzli. Pile shoes at different altitudes in the cultural layers were found and rich bar decoration of ceramics occurred exclusively in the lower layer. The decoration on cannelure groups was limited to the upper layer, as well as some graphite-decorated fragments.

Grendeltor

File:Altartafeln von Hans Leu d.Ä. (Haus zum Rech) - linkes Limmatufer - Grendeltor 2013-04-03 16-25-47.JPG

Grendeltor by Hans Leu at the end of the 15th century AD

Grendeltor or colloquially Grendel, was the only water gate in the medieval Zürich, and it also served as an additional lakeside fortification towards the present Stadelhoferplatz. The gate served as a transit for the vessel traffic between the Limmat and Lake Zurich. It was the only water gate in Zürich, and stood on the right bank of the Limmat where Haus Bellevue is today, opposite of the Bauschänzli bastion. It was enforced by a double row of palisades. In an assignment list of about 1489 AD, two riflemen, "uff the hutten", were mentioned, probably meaning the Grendeltor. The gatetower was also built as a customs station for goods that were transported on the waterway to the civilian used Schifflände harbour there. The medieval military harbour was situated at the present Sechseläutenplatz. In 1578, the alert to the buzz uff the huts had to be guaranteed at day and night. The Grendeltor was also broken in the mid-19th century.

Modern history

File:Zürich - Bauschänzli - Landungsstelle 1835-1883.jpg

Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG) landing gate probably in the 1850s

Limmatquai and Quaianlagen: Bellevueplatz and Bürkliplatz, Quaibrücke, Münsterbrücke and Münsterhof, and Rathausbrücke–Weinplatz, aerial photography by Eduard Spelterini in the probably mid-1890s.

The name Bauschänzli derives from the former building site Bauplatz Schanz, meaning construction site at the Lair or literally bastion. Later, it was popularly called Schänzlein im Wasser, situated in the historical Kratz quarter. It was built as a bulwark. A picket fence in the south, in the then Lake Zurich shore, was built before, between 1657 and 1662 AD.

As of today, Bauschänzli is reached from the left bank of the Limmat, at that time the site of the Bauhaus of the city's engineer, by a web-scraped drawbridge. As a southerly outpost, it served as a bastion to protect the city against naval attacks. On a shoal in the Limmat funnel, a small hill was built in 1660 to block access from the lake to the city. It was called Halbmond meaning "half moon", and was also planted with trees. However, it was never seriously threatened in the following years, and thus it was used primarily for public events. The Schwirren, lakeside palisades, were broken in 1834/35 and its wall fortification in 1842. When the fortifications were abolished, the Bauschänzli bastion remained intact and served from 1835 to 1883 as the landing site for the first steamboats on the lake, later provided by the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG). For some years, it was the property of the Canton of Zürich, but was sold back to the city in 1846, under reserve that it must remain opened to the public as a public square. The Leutholdplan map of 1846 showed it as a public park with tall trees and a huge pillars in its centre. In 1907, the owner of the Metropol building at Stadthausquai was allowed to run a garden restaurant and a building was erected for the Biergarten and to house an electric lighting facility. The current economic building and the distinctive column-like poplar were erected in 1937. In 2001/2002, in addition to the renovation and expansion of the Herter-building, new trees were planted and replenished, and the urban Plan Lumière implemented.

Cultural Heritage

Bauschänzli is listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class A object.

See also

• Alpenquai
• Bürkliplatz