This sculpture is near the main Zurich train station. It depicts a bearded Escher standing and wearing a suit, left hand resting on a ledge.
The Zurich tourism website for the site (
visit link) informs us:
"Alfred Escher
Swiss sculptor Richard Kissling created this bronze statue in 1889 in honor of Alfred Escher, a renowned Zürich politician and entrepreneur. It stands above a fountain hewn from red-brown granite.
Visionary Alfred Escher founded one of Switzerland’s two large banks and three of its largest insurance companies to finance and insure the Gotthard railway line and tunnel, among other things. Because there were not enough engineers available for the construction, he also co-founded the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology."
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Johann Heinrich Alfred Escher vom Glas, known as Alfred Escher (20 February 1819 in Zurich – 6 December 1882 in Zurich/Enge) was a Swiss politician, business leader and railways pioneer. Thanks to his numerous political posts and his significant role in the foundation and management of the Swiss Northeastern Railway, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Credit Suisse, Swiss Life and the Gotthard Railway, Escher had an unmatched influence on Switzerland’s political and economic development in the 19th century...
Public offices and positions
The number and importance of the positions and public offices held by Alfred Escher remains unparalleled in Swiss history to date, as the following (not exhaustive) list illustrates:
Duration Office/position
1839–1840 President of the Zurich section of the "Zofingia" student society
1840–1841 Central President of the Swiss Zofingia
1844–1847 Lecturer at the University of Zurich
1844–1882 Member of Zurich’s cantonal parliament (President: 1848, 1852, 1857, 1861, 1864, 1868)
1845–1848 Member of the Federal Council of Cantonal Representatives (Tagsatzungsgesandter) (with interruptions)
1845–1855 Member of the Board of Education
1846–1849 Member of the Zurich Legislative Council
1847–1848 Cantonal Chief Administrator of Zurich
1848–1855 Government of the Canton of Zurich (Regierungsrat) (chairman: 1849, 1851/52, 1853/54)
1848–1849 Member of the Zurich Financial Council
1848 Federal Commissioner in the Canton of Ticino
1848–1882 National Councillor (President: 1849/50, 1856/57, 1862/63)
1849–1855 Member of the Zurich Church Council
1849–1852 Member of the Zurich State Council
1853 Chairman of the Board of the Zürich-Bodenseebahn (Zurich-Lake Constance Railway Company)
1853–1872 Chairman of the Board of the Swiss Northeastern Railway
1854–1882 Vice-Chairman of the Swiss School Council
1856–1877 Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (Credit Suisse)
1857–1874 Supervisory Board of Schweizerische Lebensversicherungs- und Rentenanstalt (Swiss Life)
1859–1874 Member of the Greater City Council (Parliament) of Zurich
1860–1869 Chairman of the School Administration Committee, Zurich
1871–1878 Chairman of the Executive Board of the Gotthardbahn-Gesellschaft (Gotthard Railway Company)
1872–1882 Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Northeastern Railway
1880–1882 Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (Credit Suisse)"