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.
On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of Horgen.
History
Prehistory
The oldest vestiges discovered to date come from the coastal station of Horgen-Dampfschiffsteg/Bootshabe. They were discovered during dredging of the channel in 1950, 1961 and 1973 (with additional surveys in 1973 and 1988). These excavations identified four levels of occupation, separated by lacustrine chalk sediments. The oldest level ends with a fire layer, while the next level contained a house dated by dendrochronology to 3713 BC. The ceramics of the oldest layer belong typologically to the middle Pfyn culture, while those of the upper layers belong to the late Pfyn period. Finds included clay crucibles for copper melting, weights, flint and stone tools (percussors, polishers, scrapers, millstones, axes), bone and antler tools, wooden objects (cups, axe handles, weaver's beaters), fragments of bark boxes, and red ochre. Dendrochronology attests to a distinct occupation phase between 2722 and 2695 BC (Corded Ware culture), from which some shards originate. A Bronze Age bronze hook and conical cup are also in the inventory.
Horgen is the type-site of the Horgen culture (a name created by Emil Vogt in 1934), specifically the station of Horgen-Scheller. First observations date from dredging for a shipyard in 1914, with further work in 1917, 1921, 1923 and 1972. Excavations took place between 1987 and 1990. The excavations distinguished four to seven levels of the Horgen culture, with lacustrine chalk sediments indicating periods of flooding. Dendrochronological analysis of the pile fields (felling in 3051–3049, 3045–3044, 3039 and 3037 BC) revealed that there were undoubtedly two neighboring settlements occupied likely in alternation. The upper layers were rich in varied remains, including ceramics, weights, stone axes, saw traces, wooden combs, a hatchet with a bent handle bound with twine, a human lower jaw, and remains of cereals and fruits. , there were 213 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 39 businesses involved in this sector. 2017 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 167 businesses in this sector. 6892 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 623 businesses in this sector. 56.5% of the working population were employed full-time, and 43.5% were employed part-time.
there were 5924 Catholics and 6170 Protestants in Horgen. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 39.3% were some type of Protestant, with 36.9% belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church and 2.4% belonging to other Protestant churches. 33.6% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 7% were Muslim, 9.5% belonged to another religion (not listed), 4.2% did not give a religion, and 11.7% were atheist or agnostic.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! year
! population
|-
| 1467
| 67 households
|-
| 1634
| 1,175
|-
| 1654
| 1,560
|-
| 1780
| 2,837
|-
| 1836
| 2,886
|-
| 1850
| 4,844
|-
| 1900
| 6,883
|-
| 1930
| 9,320
|-
| 1950
| 10,118
|-
| 1970
| 15,691
|-
| 2000
| 17,432
|-
| 2010
| 18,935
|-
|2020
|23,073
|}
Transportation
thumb|The bus and railway stations at Horgen
thumb|Ferry ships «Meilen», «Schwan» and «Zürisee» at Horgen
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 uphill from Horgen station.
- Sihlwald is on the Sihltalbahn and is the terminus of the S4. Sihlwald station is in the Sihl Valley, about 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.
Reformed Church
thumb|Reformed Church: transverse oval interior
The Horgen Reformed Church by architect Johann Jakob Haltiner, consecrated in 1782, is one of the most important Swiss buildings of Protestant church architecture: The transept became the main church while the nave was omitted, similar to the church of Wädenswil (1767). The transverse oval central church, a bold solution, is based on a circle with a diameter of 17 m. In the main axis, two circles abut each other in the floor plan, which are connected with arc segments of circles of twice the diameter. The determination of the room height can in turn be traced back to circles with a diameter of 17 meters. Haltiner consistently leads this curved floor plan into the roof. The stucco was made by Andreas Moosbrugger at the same time. In 1865 the church received its first stained glass paintings and in 1874 the two fresco paintings on both sides of the pulpit. The first organ from 1884 was replaced by the current one in 1961.
Notable people
- Adele Duttweiler (1892–1990), wife of Gottlieb Duttweiler and philanthropist
- Ernst Sieber (1927–2018), pastor, social worker, writer and former politician who founded Sozialwerke Pfarrer Sieber
- Hoyte van Hoytema (born 1971), cinematographer
- Jacob Wipf, politician
- Steve Lee (1963–2010), musician, former singer of Gotthard
- Andy Schmid, Professional Handballer