Fountain in Bern
The public fountains in Bern , especially those in the old town of Bern , were used in the Middle Ages until households were provided with running water in the second half of the 19th century, for water supply and fire fighting in the city. At that time, these fountains were increasingly given a representative function and were correspondingly elaborately designed. Bern is known for the figure fountains from the mid-16th century, most of which are attributed to the workshop of the Freiburg sculptor Hans Gieng .
In addition to these well-known fountains in Bern's old town, there are other, sometimes less well-known fountains or fountain systems in Bern. In total there should be around 100 public wells in the city, often with drinking water .
history
As early as the 13th century, there were various spring wells in the city of Bern and probably cisterns as well as private wells . Justinger's city chronicle mentions that at the end of the 14th century, water could already be fetched from five flowing wells in Bern. Of these five wells, only the Stettbrunnen (with stone basins since 1855) has been preserved. The wells at that time were exclusively wooden stick wells. Only in 1520 was at the cross street of the first stone fountain, the second cross gas well positioned. Between 1542 and 1546, a large number of the remaining wooden fountains were replaced by stone stick fountains, fountain figures, most of which may have come from the Freiburg sculptor Hans Gieng . At the same time, a well regulation and the office of well master were created. The fountains were renovated again and again from the 16th century, for example total renovations of all fountains for the years 1712/13 and 1757 are known. In the 19th century the fountains were seen as obstacles to traffic and many of them were moved and in the 1840s in In the spirit of the times, renovated and redesigned not very professionally and using unsuitable materials such as lead and cement. On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the city of Bern, the fountains, which were mostly neglected at the time, were carefully renovated in 1890/91. In 1896, the master shoemaker Heinrich Philipp Lösch left his fortune to the city of Bern for the maintenance of the wells, which made a further overall renovation possible in 1925.
List of fountains in the old town
| Name 1) | image | Location | Art | Artist | Establishment 2) | Further information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zähringer fountain |
|
Kramgasse | Alley fountain | Hans Hiltbrand | 1535 | |
| Ryffli Fountain |
|
Aarbergergasse | Alley fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to) | 1542/46 | |
| Schützenbrunnen |
|
Marktgasse | Alley fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to) | 1543 | |
| Pfeiferbrunnen |
|
Spitalgasse | Alley fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to) | 1544/46 | |
| Child eater fountain |
|
Kornhausplatz | Square fountain | Hans Gieng | 1545 | |
| Anna Seiler Fountain |
|
Marktgasse | Alley fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to or from his workshop) | 1548/49 | |
| Samson Fountain |
|
Kramgasse | Alley fountain | Hans Gieng | 1527/44 | Originally as Schaalbrunnen known |
| Moses well |
|
Munsterplatz | Square fountain | 1544 | Not received. Figure 1791 replaced. | |
| Venner fountain |
|
Town Hall Square | Square fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to) | 1542 | |
| Junkerngassbrunnen |
|
Junkerngasse | Alley fountain | Not received. Today's fountain figure from 1869. | ||
| Well of Justice |
|
Justice Alley | Alley fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to) | 1543 | |
| Runner fountain |
|
Runner place | Square fountain | Hans Gieng (attributed to) | 1545 | |
| Herrengassbrunnen |
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|
Herrengasse | Alley fountain | 1740/49 and 1760/70 | ||
| City library fountain |
|
Hotel alley | Wall fountain | 1760/88 | ||
| Waisenhausplatz fountain |
|
Orphanage Square | Square fountain | 1784/85 | ||
| Middle Neuengassbrunnen |
|
Neuengasse | Alley fountain | 1842/43 | ||
| Bear Square Fountain |
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|
Bear Square | Square fountain | 1839/1935 | Basin from 1839, mercenary figure from 1935. |
1) Common, current name.
2) The year of construction or unveiling according to the sources.
More fountains in the city of Bern
List of wells in the city and municipality of Bern that are on public or private land and are accessible or can be viewed from public land.
- Amthausbrunnen (Portrait Paul Klee - Max Fueter 1939)
- Badgass fountain
- Belpstrass fountain (Kullbrunnen / Hospes fountain)
- Berna fountain
- Brunngassbrunnen
- Aarbergergasse fountain
- Altenbergstrasse Fountain (private)
- Breitfeldschulhaus fountain
- Brunnen Egelbergstrasse (private, no longer in operation)
- Fountain courtyard former building Swiss furniture
- Jubilee Square Fountain (private)
- Junkerngasse fountain
- Lorrainestrasse fountain
- Fountain Marzilischulhaus
- Muristrasse fountain (private)
- Fountain Orangery Elfenau (water-spouting mermaid - Max Fueter 1975)
- Pauluskirche fountain
- Rathausgasse fountain
- Schosshalde fountain (private)
- Fountain Schosshaldenstrasse (private)
- Egelsee fountain playground
- Burgerspitalbrunnen
- Dählhölzlibrunnen
- Doppelbrunnen Ost central building Waldau
- Doppelbrunnen Studerstrasse (Viererfeldbrunnen / fountain former primary school Enge-Felsenau)
- Doppelbrunnen West central building Waldau
- Elfenaubrunnen (Inselgassbrunnen)
- Narrow well
- Fasshausbrunnen (Altenbergbrunnen)
- Falkenbrünnli (Falkenplatzbrunnen)
- Flora fountain (temple / rotonda)
- Gerberngassbrunnen (Mattebrunnen)
- Gerbergrabenbrunnen
- Trade school fountain
- Glass fountain
- Henkerbrünnli
- Hofbrunnen Elfenau
- Hofbrunnen central building Waldau
- Jurastrasse Brunnen (no longer in operation)
- Conservatory fountain
- Kreuzgassbrunnen
- Crown fountain ( Lischetti fountain)
- Küngsbrunnen (Brunnmatt School House Fountain)
- Country fountain
- Länggassbrunnen (Dörfli fountain)
- Fountain of Life (Max Fueter 1972)
- Lenbrunnen (no longer in operation)
- Lindenbrunnen (Zeughaus- / Zeughausgassebrunnen)
- Extinguishing fountain
- Marzili Fountain
- Mattenenbrünnen (Staldenbrünnlein)
- Maybrunnen
- Meret Oppenheim Fountain (Oppenheim Fountain )
- Mühlenplatzbrunnen (Mattebrunnen)
- Münzstattbrunnen (Münzbrunnen)
- Muristaldenbrunnen
- Neubrüggbrunnen (Neubrückbrunnen or Herrenbrunnen)
- Neuengassbrunnen
- Niche fountain
- Nydegghöflibrunnen (Staldenbrunnen)
- Fruit Mountain Fountain
- Platanenhofbrunnen (Fountain Unitoblerhof)
- Rathaushofbrunnen (Chancellery Fountain)
- Rosalia Wenger Platz fountain
- Schauplatzgassbrunnen (Steinhölzlibrunnen)
- Schiffländtebrunnen (Inselistegbrunnen)
- Schützenmattbrunnen (Fountain Schützenmattstrasse)
- Schwanengasse Fountain (Schwanenbrunnen)
- Storage well
- State Archives Fountain
- Stettbrunnen
- Studerstein fountain
- Tavel terrace fountain
- Thunstrasse fountain
- Helvetiaplatz drinking fountain
- Wasserschloss (Thunplatz fountain)
- Water feature on the Bundesplatz
- Universal Postal Monument - Ornamental Fountain
- World Telegraph Monument Ornamental Fountain
- Widmann fountain
- Ornamental fountain federal terrace
- Ornamental fountain Lindenhofspital
- Ornamental fountain Markuskirche
- Ornamental fountain monastery terrace
- Ornamental fountain central building Waldau
- Zwillingsbrunnen Bundeshaus (parliament building fountain)
- Outer Laupenstrasse fountain
Former fountain in the city of Bern
List of 13 wells that once stood in the city of Bern and whose existence has been noted. They were either canceled or their whereabouts are simply unknown.
- Ankenwaag fountain (demolished in 1882 and parts of it used for the city library fountain)
- Amthausgassbrunnen (broken down in 1913, parts of the basin used for Vennerbrunnen )
- Badstuben fountain (demolished in 1556)
- Elfenaubrunnen (disappeared in the early 1970s during the expansion of the city nursery)
- Geneva Alley Fountain (probably demolished at the end of the 19th century)
- Hunger Well (Silver Line Well. Whereabouts unknown)
- Inselbrunnen (broken off in 1888/89)
- Oberer Neuengassbrunnen (removed in 1964)
- Schallenbrunnen (whereabouts unknown after 1856)
- Schegken fountain (demolished in 1861)
- Schützenhaus / Schützenmattbrunnen (preserved until 1862)
- Schweinemarktbrunnen (mentioned in the 18th century)
- Plug / plug well (occupied between 1562 and 1720)
- Brick fountain (mentioned in the middle of the 18th century)
literature
- Paul Hofer : The art monuments of the canton of Bern. The city of Bern . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History (= Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz . Volume 28 ). tape 1 . Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1952, Die Stadtbrunnen, p. 225–344 (467 pp., Biblio.unibe.ch [PDF; 68.9 MB ; accessed on January 30, 2018]).
- Armand Baeriswyl : Sodbrunnen - Stadtbach - Commercial Canal. Water supply and disposal in the city of the Middle Ages and the early modern period using the example of Bern . In: Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Bern (Hrsg.): Communications of the Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Bern . New episode band 69 . Bern August 2012, p. 67–86 ( [1] [PDF; 11.4 MB ]).
- Paul Schenk: Bärner Brünne . Ed .: Office of the Bern Journal for History and Local History (= Bern Journal for History and Local History . Volume 6 ). Paul Haupt, Bern 1944, p. 15 ( e-periodica.ch [accessed June 30, 2019]).
- Paul Schenk: Berner Brunnen-Chronik. Chronique des fontaines de Berne. A chronicle of Bernese fountains. Bern 1981.
- Ursula Schneeberger: State, war and power in the Berner Figurbrunnen program. In: André Holenstein et al. (Ed.): Bern's mighty time. Rediscovered in the 16th and 17th centuries. Bern 2006, pp. 157–161.
- Heinrich Türler, Emanuel Jirka Propper: The community center in the canton of Bern. Part II, Zurich 1922, pp. XLIX – L and plates 64–66.
- Berchtold Weber: Historical-topographical lexicon of the city of Bern. Generic term / search result: fountain (94 results) . Ed .: Burgerbibliothek Bern (= publications of the Berner Burgerbibliothek ). Bern 2016 ( archives-quickaccess.ch [accessed on February 4, 2018]).
- O. Weber: The Lösch-Fond and its donor. In: Die Berner Woche , vol. 17, 1927, p. 22 ( e-periodica )
Web links
- Bern, historical fountains on the website of the Swiss Society for the Protection of Cultural Property
- Building inventory city of Bern - full text search: fountain
- Information about the Berner Brunnen on g26.ch ( Memento from October 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Barbara Büttner: Bern's clever water management. In: journal-b.ch. Berner Onlinemedien AG, May 2, 2014, accessed on February 4, 2018 : "Separate water supply system -" The city stream never fed the wells. " Only their excess water is absorbed and discharged. - ... first of all, source wells, which are fed by the groundwater, provide the drinking water. - After the hot summer of 1395, the groundwater is definitely no longer sufficient. New wooden tube wells, from which water constantly flows, are built. For the first time, your water comes from springs outside the city, ... "
- Map of the fountains in the city and municipality of Bern on uMap from OpenStreetMap Switzerland (status: under construction)