Alte Kirche Seebach

Alte Kirche Seebach is a Baroque Reformed church in Zürich's Seebach district (Kreis 11), the city's northernmost quarter. Built in 1664, it remains the oldest church of a former farming village that became part of Zürich in 1934.

What will you see at Alte Kirche Seebach?

The building is plain and unadorned. It has a gabled roof and a slender ridge turret with a clock. A small porch was added to the front in 1811. The church sits raised above Seebacherstrasse in a green space held by a retaining wall, so its outline is easy to pick out from the street below.

Next door stands the former schoolhouse of 1857, a late-Classicist two-storey building with regular rows of windows. An extension was added on its west side in 1942. Together, the church and the old school form the best-preserved piece of the former village centre, grouped around a fork in the road.

What is the church's history?

Before 1664, Seebach was split ecclesiastically: the Ausserdorf belonged to the parish of Kloten, and the Oberdorf to the parish of Rümlang. A chapel of St Nicholas, documented since 1370, stood on the Buhnrain hill. The Baroque church replaced it and joined both halves of the village, together with Affoltern, into a single parish. An independent Seebach church community followed only in the 19th century.

The village itself is first recorded in 1212. For centuries it lived from farming, a little viticulture and cotton spinning done at home for city merchants. Industry and the railway turned it into a densely built-up district in the 19th and 20th centuries.

What else is nearby?

On the Buhnhügel stands the modern Reformed Markuskirche of 1947-48, an octagonal building with a freestanding bell tower. The Catholic church of Maria Lourdes, dating from 1935, is on Schaffhauserstrasse. Farmhouses from the 17th to 19th centuries survive along Ausserdorfstrasse. Seebach is listed in the federal ISOS inventory of protected village sites, and the Alte Kirche appears there as an individual element.

How do you get there?

Seebach has its own railway station, and city trams run through the district. It is a short public-transport ride from central Zürich. From the station, you walk through the old village core to the church. The coordinates are roughly 47.423 N, 8.543 E.

Frequently asked questions

When was Alte Kirche Seebach built? In 1664. The porch was added in 1811.

What style is it? Simple Baroque, with a gabled roof and a slim clock turret.

What stood here before? A chapel of St Nicholas, recorded from 1370.

Is there another landmark close by? Yes. The old schoolhouse of 1857 stands right beside it, and the Markuskirche of 1947-48 is up on the hill.