Justice Alley

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Justice Alley from the south

The Gerechtigkeitsgasse is one of the main streets in the old town of Bern , the medieval city center of Bern in Switzerland .

Together with its extension, Kramgasse , it is the heart of the city center. Hans Gieng's most famous fountain figure, the statue of Justitia on the Fountain of Justice , dominates the view of the curved, rising course of the street.

The Gerechtigkeitsgasse is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bern's old town. Several of its buildings are registered as cultural monuments of national importance.

location

The Gerechtigkeitsgasse is 260 meters long. It is the eastern half and the oldest part of the central east-west axis of the oldest city quarter, the Zähringer city, which emerged directly after the city was founded in 1191. The continuation to the west, after the cross-running Kreuzgasse , forms the Kramgasse. In the east the Gerechtigkeitsgasse branches off in front of the Nydegg: The Nydeggstalden leads to the Untertorbrücke and the Nydeggasse to the younger Nydeggbrücke . Before the Nydeggbrücke was built, the extension of Gerechtigkeitsgasse at the junction with Junkerngasse was called Schwendplatz. Originally there was a linden tree and until 1844 also the Vennerbrunnen . Since the construction of the Nydegg Bridge, a retaining wall has separated the space between Nydegghöfli and Nydeggasse. Several narrow streets and passages connect the Kramgasse with the parallel Postgasse in the north and the Junkerngasse in the south.

The Gerechtigkeitsgasse is only accessible for cars with a special permit. It can only be reached on foot, by bike or with the Bernmobil bus line No. 12, which runs through the alley, with stops at the ends of the street (Rathaus and Nydegg). Stone arcades, called arcades, protect pedestrians from bad weather on both sides of the street

history

The Gerechtigkeitsgasse was the main street of the city when it was founded. With its original width of around 26 meters, reduced to 18 meters after the arcades were built, it also served as the central market square of medieval Bern. For this reason, Gerechtigkeitsgasse and Kramgasse were referred to together as Märitgasse until the 16th century. After this time, the markets moved west towards Zytglogge, and the street was named "by der Gerechtigkeit" in reference to the fountain built in 1543. It was not until 1798 that the street was officially renamed Gerechtigkeitsgasse. The huts of the meat and bread bowl standing above the Stadtbach in the middle of the alley were closed and the tanneries and with them most of the guilds moved away between 1450 and 1550, as the street gradually became a residential area for the ruling patrician families. The city court with its pillory and judge's seat made of stone remained in the middle of the street near Kreuzgasse for a longer time.

In order to reduce the steep incline at the eastern end of the street, after the destruction of Nydegg Castle in 1270 and the demolition of the other fortifications by 1405 and 1764, the course of the street was changed several times. For the construction of the Nydeggbrücke from 1840 to 1844, the southern houses of the former Wendschatzgasse had to give way.

In 2005 the street was thoroughly renovated and its cobblestones replaced. The city stream, which has run through the middle of the street since the Middle Ages, is now visible again under metal bars.

building

Well of Justice

The building history of Gerechtigkeitsgasse is mainly recorded around 1600. The oldest town house is the west and middle section of No. 60, built by Hans Franz Nägeli in 1531. About half of the buildings are characterized by the style of the late 16th century. The Renaissance architecture and the early Baroque had little influence on the exterior design of the buildings. As in Kramgasse, two thirds of the houses were given new facades by 1780, which redesigned most of the eastern and central part of the street in the late Baroque style. In contrast to other streets, no significant changes have been made to the street appearance since then. A project to demolish five houses in 1954 was prevented by exceptionally broad public opposition with international support. House number 7, the Golden Eagle, is Bern's oldest inn and tavern. It was first recorded in 1489 as the White Cross; The building is a construction by N. Hebler from 1764. The eagle's head with the host's shield is one of the main works of this type in Switzerland. No. 40 is Bern's most expansive urban palace; it is exemplary for the integration of a French city ​​palace into the medieval cityscape. It was built in 1743 for Alexander von Wattenwyl by Rudolf Hebler according to plans by Albrecht Stürler instead of three narrow houses. The outside staircase was built in 1845 after the last lowering of Gerechtigkeitsgasse. The Marcuard family (Bankhaus Marcuard & Cie) acquired the property in 1846. The building, known since then as Marcuard-Haus , came into the possession of the civic community of Bern in 1971 . On September 18, 1802, the Marcuardhaus was the scene of the surrender of the Swiss government to French troops. No. 42 is the first work by Stürler, who was 28 years old when he designed it for Niklaus Jenner in 1734.

House number 33 is significant as the main work of Bernese mannerism with one of the best Régence facades and Louis XV interior. It was built by Andres Widmer in 1608 and redesigned by Türler in 1740. No. 52, built in 1730, is considered Niklaus Sprüngli's best town house. No. 56, a rather simple Régence house, is known for its unusual door knocker. No. 62 houses the Klötzlikeller restaurant. It was founded in 1632 and is the last of the originally more than 200 cellar taverns in Bern. No. 79, the Gesellschaftshaus zum Distelzwang, built in 1703 by Samuel Jenner , is a major work of early baroque architecture in Bern.

literature

  • Regula Bielinski, Mirjam Brunner, Clément Crevoisier, Jürg Davatz, Edith Hunziker, Aloys Lauper, Isabelle Rucki, Cornelia Stäheli, GSK: Art Guide through Switzerland , Society for Swiss Art History , 2005, ISBN 978-3-906131-97-9 .
  • Fridolin Limbach, Hans Strahm: The beautiful city of Bern: the eventful history of the old "Märit-" or "Meritgasse", today's Justice and Kramgasse and the old Zähringer city of Bern. Benteli, Bern 1988, ISBN 3-7165-0273-1 .
  • Paul Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern, Volume II, The City of Bern, Society Houses and Residential Buildings. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1959, online PDF 65 MB.

Web links

Commons : Gerechtigkeitsgasse  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , p. 74.
  2. ↑ Inventory of cultural monuments of national importance  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 4, PDF 220 KB.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.babs.admin.ch  
  3. ^ A b Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , p. 66.
  4. ↑ a b c d Zita Caviezel, Georges Herzog & Jürg A. Keller: Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn, Kunstführer durch die Schweiz, 3 , p. 163.
  5. ^ Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , p. 63.
  6. ^ A b Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , p. 68.
  7. ^ Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , pp. 69–70.
  8. ↑ a b c d Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , p. 72.
  9. ^ Paul Hofer: Die Stadt Bern, Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, 2 , pp. 72–73.
  10. ↑ a b Zita Caviezel, Georges Herzog & Jürg A. Keller: Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn, Art Guide through Switzerland, 3 , p. 164.
  11. ↑ Zita Caviezel, Georges Herzog & Jürg A. Keller: Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn, Art Guide through Switzerland, 3 , p. 165.
  12. ↑ KGS 694
  13. ↑ Berchtold Weber: Historisch-Topografisches Lexikon der Stadt Bern , Bern, 2016
  14. ↑ a b c d Zita Caviezel, Georges Herzog & Jürg A. Keller: Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn, Kunstführer durch die Schweiz, 3 , p. 166.
  15. ↑ Zita Caviezel, Georges Herzog & Jürg A. Keller: Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn, Art Guide through Switzerland, 3 , p. 168.
  16. ↑ Zita Caviezel, Georges Herzog & Jürg A. Keller: Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn, Art Guide through Switzerland, 3 , p. 169.

Coordinates: 46 ° 56 '53.8 "  N , 7 ° 27' 14.1"  E ; CH1903:  601 164  /  199,688