Mennonite movement turns 500 in Zurich, where it all began

Some 3,500 Mennonites gathered in Zurich at the end of May to celebrate the 500th anniversary of this Protestant religious movement, which originated on the banks of the River Limmat before spreading throughout the world. Even for a cosmopolitan city like Zurich, the streets offered a rather unusual sight on May 29, with people coming from all over the world for an event that was neither sporting nor cultural, but religious. In 2025, Catholics are not the only ones celebrating a jubilee. The Mennonites are too. To mark the 500th anniversary of the founding of this branch of Protestantism, Zurich hosted a meeting entitled “500: The Courage to Love”, at the invitation of the Mennonite World Conference. Other events are planned throughout the year, both in Switzerland and abroad. Various encyclopaedias, including Wikipedia, state that the Mennonite movement was founded in 1540 by the Dutch reformer Menno Simons. So why celebrate its half-millennium in Zurich in 2025? The explanation ...