Zerbst
a town of Germany in the republic of Anhalt, formerly capital of the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst; on the Nuthe, 2614 miles S. E. of. Magdeburg.
The chief buildings are the Nikolaikirche, dating from the 15th century; the great Schloss, surrounded with a park; and the stately old Rathhaus, dating from the 15th century, but disfigured by additions in 1610, standing in the market place, in the center of which are the Roland column (1445), and the Butterjungfer, a slender column bearing a female figure. Zerbst contains a gymnasium of high repute-the Francisceum and has manufactures of silks, plush, cloth, leather, gloves, gold and silver lace, soap, starch, essences, tobacco, chemicals, pottery, umbrellas, musical instruments, and machinery.
Gardening, iron founding, and beer brewing are also carried on. ZERMATT (tser-mät'), an important center for tourists in Switzerland; a small village near the upper end of the Visp valley in Valais; 25 miles S. S. W.. of Visp. It stands 5,315 feet above the sea, having to the S. the great Théodule glacier, above which towers the Breithorn on the E. and beyond the Monte Rosa group, and on the W. the rocky cone of the Matterhorn. Railway communication was opened in 1890. The ZEUS churchyard contains the graves of many of the victims of mountaineering. The Théodule Pass or Matterjoch (10,899 feet) leads to Aosta in Italy.