Through 12-17 August visitors from Switzerland and abroad as well as local residents will be able to experience a unique international sporting festival which will attract worldwide attention.
It will be a place for people to meet, relax, and enjoy the party. The House of Switzerland, provided by Presence Switzerland, will represent the heart and soul of the City Festival.
The House of Switzerland is currently being set up in Sochi for the 2014 Olympic Games.
The Swiss Armed Forces will help dismantle and build up the structure in time for Zürich 2014. It will then again be moved to the 2015 world exhibition in Milan and to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
“Sports has a huge potential for communication purposes, and with its international scope, Zürich 2014 is a wonderful opportunity to present the country, its values, and its ideas,” explained Ambassador Nicolas Bideau, Head of Presence Switzerland, an office of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
The House of Switzerland is a sustainable, wooden structure, an ideal ambassador for Swiss design and architecture, and a creative platform to help represent Switzerland’s interests on the occasion of major international events.
In addition to the House of Switzerland, where many top athletes will make appearances, the City Festival will boast various attractions.
“Our partners and sponsors will offer surprising and unusual athletics experiences,” said Zürich 2014 Marketing Director Christoph Joho.
“Visitors will be able invited to witness a 100m race with their ears only, for example. The experiment in a darkened pavilion will provide them with an entirely new perspective of the event – and probably give them goose bumps,” he added.
Every night after 10 p.m., art enthusiasts and athletics fans will be able to admire video installations on the façade of the Zurich opera house. The City Festival on Sechselí¤utenplatz will be declared open by top Swiss athletes on Saturday 9 August 2014.
Ticket sales
Nine months prior to the championships, 45,400 day packages or 38 percent of all stadium tickets available for purchase have already been sold.
One third of all tickets have been purchased by international fans, mostly from Germany, Great Britain, France. The championship promoters expect at least 5,000 international guests on each of the six days of competition.