Au peninsula

The Au peninsula is located in the center of Zurich lake in the village of Au between Horgen and Wädenswil.

History and Culture

For the first time Au was mentioned as Owe 1316 as the Knights of St. John Lehnshof Wädenswil. 1150 she goes into the possession of the city of Zurich and belongs to 1798 to their bailiwick Wädenswil. Until the 19th century the peninsula was covered by oak forests. Founded in 1911 Au consortium was able to preserve the peninsula overbuilding.

The estate was acquired Au 1651 by Hans Rudolf Werdmüller. The vineyard at Auhügel and the small lake also belonged to the estate. The estate was later inhabited by prominent contemporaries, including by the author Mentona Moser (1874-1971), who grew up there together with her sister Fanny Moser. The present building complex in the style of a baroque hunting lodge comes great majority of the 1930s. Today the estate is owned by the Canton of Zurich.

The enclosed cantonal Weinbaumuseum Au vineyard is one of the last of the southern shore of Lake Zurich. At the highest point of the peninsula is a country inn.

Leisure

The Au peninsula is a popular destination with numerous walking trails, several conglomerate rock caves and nature protection zones as well as a pool and playground. She can be reached by various ship stations of public passenger boats of Lake Zurich Navigation Company to Au Peninsula station. The Au ZH railway station is in the immediate vicinity of the peninsula.

Trivia

• The poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock visited the Au in 1750 and wrote an ode to the beauty of the peninsula on Lake Zurich.

• General Werdmüller was the main character in Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's novella The shot from the pulpit of 1878, which, among other plays on the estate Au.