Horgen, The Canton of Zürich, Switzerland

🇨🇭 Horgen is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.

It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich.

In 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of Horgen.

History Horgen is also the type-site of Switzerland's middle Neolithic archaeological culture. The settlement there, the so-called Horgner Kultur (Horgen culture), produced examples of a type of crude pottery with parallels to the Seine-Oise-Marne culture of northern France. Horgen is first mentioned in 952 as Horga.

Geography Horgen has an area of 21.1 km2 (8.1 sq mi). Of this area, 27.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 20.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). In 1996 housing and buildings made up 12.5% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (7.9%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 1.6% of the area. As of 2007, 16% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction.

The large municipality stretches from the shores of Lake Zurich (elevation 408 m (1,339 ft)), near Wädenswil over the Zimmerberg-Plateau where the decentralized village of Horgenberg is found (elevation 660 m (2,170 ft)), though the Sihl Valley (Sihltal), to the peak of the Albis chain (elevation 915 m (3,002 ft)). It includes the villages of Horgen, Arn and Horgenberg.

Until 1773, Horgen included the now separate municipalities of Oberrieden and Hirzel. The Sihl forest (Sihlwald) became part of the city of Zürich in 1803. However the Horgen city council refused to acknowledge this until 1877.

Transportation The A3 motorway passes through the municipality and has a junction in the south of the town.

The municipality of Horgen is served by three railway stations. Of these two are relatively close to each other in the lakeside part of the municipality, while the other is some distance away from the centre of the town in the Sihl Valley: • Horgen is on the Lake Zurich left bank line and is served by Zurich S-Bahn lines S2 and S8. The station is in the town centre and adjacent to the lake. • Horgen Oberdorf is on the Thalwil–Arth-Goldau line, and is served by the S24. Horgen Oberdorf station is some 0.9 km (0.56 mi) uphill from Horgen station. • Sihlwald is on the Sihltalbahn and is the terminus of the S4. Sihlwald station is in the Sihl Valley, about 4 km (2.5 mi) north of the closed Sihlbrugg station. The Sihtalbahn continues to Sihlbrugg station, but this stretch of line no longer carries regular passenger service.

The Zimmerberg bus line (Zimmerbergbus), provided by the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU), connects the Zimmerberg region and parts of the Sihl Valley.

In the summer there are regular boats to Zürich-Bürkliplatz as well as along the lake to Rapperswil, run by the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft. The Horgen–Meilen car ferry connects Horgen and Meilen across the width of Lake Zurich, and one of the line's ships carries the name Horgen.