Lara Thurnherr

What did people living in 1900 think Zurich would look like in 2000? An article, published on February 19, 1900.

Translation: Zurich in the Year 2000

“Zurich, 19th D Zurich’s largest literary community, the Reading Circle Hottingen, which is best known for its brilliant festivities, organised a large future festival “Zurich in the year 2000” on 10 March in the Tonhalle. Without going into the great upheavals of the 20th century, it is an established fact that Zurich has become the tourist metropolis of the whole world as a result of the enormous economic upswing that the whole world has experienced in the last fifty years of peace.

The sea of houses stretches from the crest of the Uetliberg to the Zürichberg and deep into the Limmatthal, and even the lake has been sold by the square metre since the art of engineering succeeded in building fairytale palaces from the depths of the lake. Thus, in the middle of the lake between Kiesbach and Wollishofen, the Tulip Island was created, on which the first Zurich World’s Fair is to take place in the year 2000.Incidentally, the international congress of scholars is meeting in Zurich at the same time to decide the dispute over the beginning of the millennium. With the participation of all the nations that have delegated their sovereigns, the opening of the exhibition takes place. Immediately upon entering the exhibition, in the Verstibul, we enter the old Zurich. So the custom of showing cultural-historical reminiscences from the past of the exhibition venue is also in force at this time. Only the grip on prehistory has become a deeper one. A Zurich from the Middle Ages would hardly be of interest any more, so the year 2000 BC was chosen, Zurich during the pile-dwelling period!

In the large hall, the banqueting hall of the exhibition palace is depicted, where all the festivities take place. In the background you can see the silhouette of Greater Zurich at dusk. In the adjoining room is the Secessionist painting exhibition, which alone is worth a trip to the exhibition city. Next to it you can see a modern newspaper edition, which is unique. Festive speeches are, of course, a thing of the past. Those who wish to enjoy one go into the adjoining room and have the phonograph recite it for them.

A spiral staircase leads the visitor down into the realm of the nymphs and naiads. A resourceful entrepreneur has had the idea of setting up a cool juice house on the lake’s rim, from which one can comfortably observe the goings-on in the depths. There is also a modern nutrition hall, as well as the delicious Fountain of Youth. The main attraction, however, is the just-completed tunnel railway from Zurich to the Antipodes on any of the small South Sea islands, which runs directly through the bowels of the earth. Right in the middle is the “centre of the earth” station, where travellers have the opportunity to view the terrifying hearth of fire of the earth’s core. Of course, by then the North Pole will also have been discovered and the honeymooners will no longer spend their honey moon in the south, but at the North Pole.“

I think this article is interesting for two main reasons:

1. The subjects on which the “Lesezirkel Hottingen” felt comfortable making forecasts about.

It seems like the Reading Group seemed to be okay with talking about population growth, transportation technology and academic globalization. They could have talked about the development of the political system, societal norms in general, wealth inequality or communication . This varying confidence in progress across different sectors is particularly visible in the sentence: “Festive speeches are, of course, a thing of the past. Those who wish to enjoy one go into the adjoining room and have the phonograph recite it for them.” It is somewhat comforting though, to know that festive speeches were as unpopular then as they are now. Some things never change.

2. The structure of the article

I was completely baffled by the twist of the article’s general direction in the last paragraph. After reading about some slight adjustments to architecture, population and academic collaboration, we suddenly hear about THE GIANT TUNNEL. It is mentioned just as casually as the discovery of the north pole. This doesn’t have to mean that both of these predictions were thought of as equally plausible- but maybe as equally important? or maybe they were just mentioned in the same paragraph because the author of the article wanted to say that newlyweds will go to the north pole via *tunnel*. Either way I want to talk to whoever wrote this piece.