Zunft zum Kämbel

Zunft zum Kämbel (literally "Kämbel guild") is a Zunft organisation in Zürich, Switzerland, assiocated in Zünfte of Zürich. The guild was established in 1336; their guild house, the Haus zur Haue building, is situated at the Limmatquai.

The present Kämbel guild house, the Haus zur Haue building, is situated at the Limmatquai respectively Rathaus nearby the Constaffel, Saffran and Zimmerleuten guild houses. Zunft zum Kämbel was originally a guild of food dealers and wine merchants. Its first Trinkstube (tavern and association meeting place) was located near the medieval town hall at Münsterhof. Their guild house was first mentioned in a 1389 document as Kembel. In 1487 the guild acquired the House zum Kämbel which is still located at the Münsterhof 18. The siting at the Münsterhof plaza is seen as a deliberate distancing from the noble guild houses of the more prominent guilds in Zürich.

The origins of the Kämbel guild date back to 1336, when it, along with the other medieval Zürich guilds and the knight's association (Constaffel), was founded on occasion of the Brun guild constitution. The guilds were associations of various craft associations, at the same time they were economical, political, social and even military organizations that participated the wars of the medieval city republic in independent military formations. The guild masters constituted also the councillors of the elitary council of the medieval city republic of Zürich, until the French revolutionary troops terminated the guild regime, and the so-called Old Swiss Conferacy collapsed in spring 1798. In 1801 the Kämbel members sold their guildhall, but by the Act of Mediation in 1803 and 1815, the guild temporarily was re-established as one of the thirteen constituencies as municipal election guilds. In the 1838 election guilds were abolished at the cantonal level, and definitely by the municipal elections of 1866.

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