Zurich — Jung's Collective Shadow

Your quest begins at the Hauptgebäude Universität Zürich, a neo-renaissance edifice built between 1858 and 1864 by Ferdinand Stadler. It was here that Carl Gustav Jung taught psychiatry in 1905, before moving to Burghölzli. This first central building of the University of Zurich, founded in 1833, has been a Swiss Historical Monument (KGS) since 1970. The 20,000 m² covered surface of these walls has witnessed the passage of the brightest minds of their time, and it is in their shadows that the first keys to the Zurich collective unconscious are hidden.

Next, the Polyterrasse ETH Zürich offers a unique perspective on the city. Built between 1860 and 1865, this panoramic terrace of ETH Zurich, where Albert Einstein studied from 1896 to 1900, overlooks the Limmat at an altitude of 400m. Although ETH is adjacent to the University, Jung frequented Zurich's scientific circles around 1900, creating an intellectual bridge between these institutions. The view of Zurich and the Alps, capable of accommodating 500 people for events, is an invitation to contemplate vast inner and outer landscapes, where archetypes are outlined in daylight.

Your journey takes you to the Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Zürich, the famous Burghölzli, founded in 1870. Carl Gustav Jung served as medical director here from 1902 to 1909, developing his theory of complexes. His predecessor, Eugen Bleuler (1898-1927), introduced the term 'schizophrenia' in 1911. The buildings, constructed between 1867 and 1870, historically housed 300 patients. This place, a cradle of modern psychiatry in Zurich, is imbued with questions about the human soul and its depths, an essential site for understanding the mechanisms of the collective shadow that Jung sought to explore.

After a contemplative break on the Seepromenade Zürich, developed in the late 19th century and near Jung's residence in Seefeld (1910-1920), you reach Café Odeon. Opened in 1912 in an 1882 building in Art Nouveau style, it was a meeting place for Zurich intellectuals. Jung met artists and psychoanalysts there in the 1910s-1920s, as did James Joyce (1918-1919), Klaus Mann, and Erich Maria Remarque. Classified as a cantonal historical monument in 1985, Café Odeon is a crossroads where ideas bubbled, where personal and collective shadows met and expressed themselves freely.

Your exploration concludes between the Grossmünster and the Lindenhof. The Grossmünster, a Romanesque church founded around 1100, whose 65-meter towers were completed in 1220, saw Huldrych Zwingli preach the Reformation from 1519 to 1531. This Swiss Cultural Property of National Importance (ISOS 1990) is a symbol of Zurich's collective consciousness. The Lindenhof, a historic hill fortified in the 13th century, site of a Roman oppidum (Turicum) in the 1st century AD, has been classified as a Swiss Historical Monument (KGS) since 1943. By traversing these places steeped in Zurich's history, from the Roman mosaics discovered in 1919 to the city rights granted by Frederick II in 1218, you will have uncovered the secrets of a Roman archaeological heritage (Turicum) and the layers of the collective unconscious, taking with you a renewed vision of this Swiss city and its psychological depths.