Bülach, The Canton of Zürich, Switzerland

🇨🇭 Bülach is an historic town and a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Zürich. It is the administrative capital of Bülach district. It is situated in the Glatt Valley (German: Glattal) to the east of the small river Glatt and about 4 km (2.5 mi) south of the High Rhine and about 6 km (3.7 mi) north of the Zurich Airport.

The official language of Bülach is Swiss Standard German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

History Bülach is first mentioned in 811 as Pulacha. From early times it fell within the province of the Alamanni. Joachim Werner's description of the early cemetery excavated there was published in 1953.

Geography Bülach has an area of 16.1 km² (6.2 sq mi). Of this area, 33.2% is used for agricultural purposes, 39.5% is forested, 26.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality is located around the lower Glatt Valley. The town of Bülach and the village of Niederflachs are in the valley. Around the town are the hamlets of Heimgarten am Rinsberg, Eschenmosen (since 1919, earlier part of Winkel) and Nussbaumen am Dettenberg. The municipality of Bachenbülach was part of Bülach until 1849 when it became an independent municipality. Bülach is located on the old road from Zürich through Kloten to Eglisau.

Attractions The Reformed Church and the popular Sigristenkeller gallery stand on a small hill, and are surrounded by pretty old buildings, including the Pfarrhaus and the old Tithe Barn. The church is named after Saint Laurentius, to whom the town's coat of arms is dedicated. Saint Laurentius was deacon to Pope Sixtus II, and became a martyr when he was condemned to death by fire in 258 AD. The church forms a well-matched unit with the Town Hall, and has a tower rising above it to a height of 74 meters. Also on the first Saturday of every month at 6pm, trumpeters play for half an hour from the top of the tower.

Duke Leopold III of Austria (Habsburg) granted Bülach a town charter in 1384, including its own jurisdiction and the right to hold its own market.

Economy and transport One of the most important institutions in the town and its biggest employer (over 700 employees) is the regional hospital Spital Bülach with 200 beds. Other important employers include the traditional glass producer Vetropack, civil engineering firm Mageba, and the Zürcher Unterländer newspaper.

Bülach has an unemployment rate of 3.07%. As of 2005, there were 130 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 36 businesses involved in this sector. 1893 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 133 businesses in this sector. 5596 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 607 businesses in this sector.

Bülach railway station is a node of the Zürich S-Bahn on the lines S41 and S5. Its train station is a 24-minute (S5) ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof.

It also has a direct bus link from Zurich Airport which takes 25 minutes on 530 service.