Cage tower
The Käfigturm is a city gate in the form of a tower at the upper end of Marktgasse in the old town of Bern and was part of the old fortifications. The tower, which was built from 1641 to 1644, replaced a dilapidated predecessor from 1256. Over the centuries, the building first served as a defense tower , high watch , later as a prison tower, state archive and information center. It currently serves as a location for exhibitions and events on political issues.
location
The Käfigturm stands in the western part of Bern's old town. From the gate in an easterly direction one arrives over Marktgasse and past the Anna-Seiler-Brunnen to the other city gate, the Zytglogge (clock bell). To the west of the Käfigturm, Spitalgasse, used as a pedestrian zone, leads towards the train station . At the crossing point on the west side of the gate is the heavily frequented Bärenplatz . Buses and trams from west to east run through the arch of the cage tower; in the opposite direction it goes past the gate on the northern front. In the second arch on the west side, which is used for pedestrian traffic, there is also the entrance to the information center. The address of the city gate is Marktgasse 67.
Bern is one of three cities in the German-speaking area with such gateways. These are also the Nauener Tor in Potsdam and the gates in Freiburg im Breisgau .
history
The predecessor of today's tower was built in 1256 as part of the second city fortification on the orders of Peter II as a western defense tower and was originally named Gloggnerstor after a bourgeois family , as the chronicler Konrad Justinger reported. It lost its function as a fortification with the expansion of the city to today's Heiliggeistkirche in 1345. After the clock tower burned down in 1405, the prisoners were moved from the dungeon of the destroyed building to the cage tower. To distinguish it from the women's tower at the armory , the tower was given the name Mannenkefi . In addition to its function as a prison, it also served as a high watch. A moat bridge from 1286 was removed again in 1578.
In 1640 the first gate was demolished because it was dilapidated, and from January 1641 to spring 1644 it was replaced by a new building according to plans by Joseph Plepp . In the run-up, there were various controversies about the location and the shape of the tower. The council, which on May 19, 1638, was in favor of the new construction of the city gate, confirmed its decision on May 29, 1641 and stuck to the old square. The new gate is only 4 m further west than the original gate. The purpose of the gate was already secondary at the time it was built. They wanted to create an architectural monument in the urban fabric of the distinctive square. The renovation was also associated with great costs. In the Council minutes of September 2, 1639, the question was therefore raised:
"Whether this fortification Werck (was) again useful, necessary and official, or, according to the assumption, forgivable, and that many Costens and subjects are grievously complained about being left behind."
After Plepp's death in April 1642, Antoni Graber took over the management of the new building. As part of this work, the neighboring house was also bought and rebuilt, because the new tower did not offer enough space to accommodate all prisoners.
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The cage tower has been fitted with a mechanical clockwork since 1690/91 . In 1803 the Käfigturm and the annex fell to the canton. In the years 1794 to 1805 the annex was increased by two floors. Due to the increasing volume of traffic in the city, the northern extension was broken off in 1823 and the passage that has existed since then was made possible. In 1886 a petition "in the interests of easing traffic" provided for the cage tower to be completely torn down. However, this project was rejected by the cantonal government. On June 19, 1893, the Käfigturm riots broke out in which the window panes of the city gate were smashed. In 1897 the Käfigturm had served its time as a prison ; the approximately seventy prisoners were transferred to the new district prison. In 1902/1903 a breakthrough was made as a pedestrian passage in the neighboring building. For this reason, the stair tower on the east side had to be demolished. From 1903 to 1977 the gate was used as the state archive of the canton of Bern for archival material from the district and higher courts. In 1906 the east facade was renovated, in 1933 the west facade.
The Käfigturm was completely renovated in 1980 and has been used as the canton's information and exhibition center ever since. In the course of this renovation, the clockwork originally located in the screed was also moved to the exhibition room. In 1995 the information center was closed and was only used sporadically as a commercial library, for exhibitions or private events. In autumn 1999, the Federal Chancellery and the Federal Parliamentary Services set up the Federal Political Forum in the Käfigturm . There were regular exhibitions and events on political topics. As part of the stabilization program from 2017 to 2019, the federal government announced the closure of the political forum at the end of 2017.
Since August 1, 2017, the Polit-Forum Bern has been operated under new sponsorship, consisting of the city of Bern, the canton of Bern and the civic community of Bern, as well as the two regional churches. The Polit-Forum Bern will also plan and organize events and exhibitions on political topics under the new sponsorship and thus contribute to political education. The premises in the Käfigturm should also be available in the future to those circles and organizations planning events with a political purpose.
description
architecture
The monumental city gate has a square floor plan of 9.8 meters in length and five floors as well as a screed . The city gate is 23.2 meters high up to the roof ridge (lower edge of the roof), 49 m up to the knob of the weather vane at its top, and has a total of 106 steps. The total usable area is 475 square meters, the base thickness 2.5 and the width of the archway 5 meters. The walls are 0.85 to 0.90 m thick on the floors. The substructure and the arch of the passage are made of hard stone, the rest of the structure is made of sandstone . The Käfigturm is embedded in an ensemble of multi-storey historical guild houses. To the north is a narrow passage, the south side of the gate connects seamlessly to a residential building, which also has a gate passage. A medallion with three coats of arms is located above the gateway to the city gate . Two of them show the Bernese coat of arms , one the imperial eagle as a symbol of the imperial freedom of the city. The medallion with the weapon relief is protected by a small roof attached to the facade. It was carved in sandstone in May 1643 by the Palatinate sculptor Johannes Hülscher. The entire coat of arms was restored in 1933. As the arrival side, the west side of the cage tower has been upgraded with classic forms of structure. Eight slit-shaped, barred windows of different sizes are distributed over the floors. There are six small window slots below the roof line. The ashlar masonry consists of light-colored stones. The base of the tower is profiled with striking joint patterns. The east facade is reduced to the main sections and is therefore much more unadorned than the west facade. Was waived there on Arch iris , Eckquaderung, triglyphs and Hermen pilaster .
Clock and bells
The city gate has a clock with a dark red dial on its west and east side. The clocks only show the hours and do not have a minute hand. On the main structure of the city gate there is a truncated tent roof with red tiles, the edges of which are curved in a baroque style. The roof is closed by a bell-shaped hood with a pointed helmet. The lower part of the bell dome is cube-shaped with sound holes of the bells, on the top of which the year of the year of construction 1643 can be read in gold letters. The bell originally served as a warning signal for military attacks and, according to its inscription, comes from the area of Vesoul . Her ordination reads “Let my voice be a terror to all evil spirits”. The very pointed shape of the bell dome tapers like an antenna and is closed off by a knob and a weather vane . On all four sides of the roof there are small dormers in the middle , which are closed off by smaller hoods, similar in design to the top of the gate.
In August 1686 they wanted to use a discarded clock from the clock tower on the Käfigturm. This turned out to be unusable, so the two clockmakers Jacob Hogg and Jakob Kuntz from Zofingen were commissioned to manufacture a new clock for the Käfigturm. The clockwork of the cage tower was installed together with the two dials on the west and east sides in 1691. The power unit bears the majus inscription Jacob Hogg 1691 on the front frame band . The power reserve of the movement is 36 hours maximum, it must be manually daily tightened be. Two weights of 45 and 85 kg form the drive device.
Cage tower in art
The Käfigturm was the subject of several well-known artists in the visual arts . One of the oldest known representations of today's cage tower is a washed pen drawing in a vedute album . The drawing Spitalgasse zu Bern was created around 1680 by Wilhelm Stettler (1643–1708). Two undated copper engravings by Johann Ludwig Nöthiger (1719–1782) show the gate from the north-west and west. Both representations are in the Kunstmuseum Basel . The French impressionist Georges Stein (1818–1890), who is best known for his Parisian street scenes, made two oil paintings ( Spitalgasse with Käfigturm and Marktgasse with Käfigturm ) with the Käfigturm as a motif. In 1914, the Swiss artist Adolf Tièche (1877–1957) produced an illustrated book with 24 pencil drawings of cityscapes of Bern. Below is a representation of the cage tower with the bear square.
Polit-Forum Bern
The Polit-Forum Bern is housed in the Käfigturm and around a hundred meters from the Bundeshaus. The Polit-Forum Bern organizes events and exhibitions on political topics and provides offers for political education. In addition, rooms for events that pursue a political purpose are rented out free of charge.
prehistory
In 1976 the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern decided to completely renovate the cage tower and expand it into an information and exhibition center. From 1998 it was operated as a political forum by the federal government, supported by the Federal Chancellery and parliamentary services.
After the federal government announced that the Politforum would be closed at the end of 2017, the canton, city and civic community of Bern advocated a new sponsorship with federal participation. The corresponding commission motions were rejected by the National Council and Council of States in the 2016 winter session.
Foundation of an association
On April 18, 2017, the city , canton and civic community of Bern founded the "Polit-Forum Bern" association. The Polit-Forum in the Käfigturm will continue to operate under this name. The Polit-Forum Bern will also plan and organize events and exhibitions on political topics under the new sponsorship and thus contribute to political education. The premises in the Käfigturm should also be available in the future to those circles and organizations planning events with a political purpose. This is what the city, canton and civic community of Bern, as founding members of the “Polit-Forum Bern”, have written into the statues of the new association.
In July 2017, the sponsorship of the Polit-Forum was expanded: The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches and the Roman-Catholic Central Conference of Switzerland decided to jointly participate in the “Polit-Forum Bern” association from 2018.
literature
- Paul Hofer : The city of Bern. Society for Swiss Art History, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1952. ISBN 978-3-906131-13-9 . Volume 1 of Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. 5 volumes, 1952–1998. S. 129 ff. Digitalisat
- Johanna Strübin Rindisbacher: Between perspective and mortar recipe . On the educational background of Joseph Plepp (1595 to 1642), the Bernese master craftsman, painter and map author in In the shadow of the Golden Age , artist and client in the Bernese 17th century, exhibition catalog Kunstmuseum Bern 1995, vol. 2, pages 141–164.
See also
Web links
- Polit-Forum Bern in the Käfigturm
- Information, pictures, videos and 360 panoramas of the Käfigturm - Bern Tourismus website
Individual evidence
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 129
- ↑ Brigitt Sigel: Stadt- und Landmauern , vdf Hochschulverlag AG, 1996, ISBN 9783728121509 , page 66
- ↑ Bern Käfigturm: Built as a memorial back then ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 131
- ↑ Peter Stauffer, 60 men and one order ...: the Käfigturm riot of June 19, 1893 . In: Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde 55 (1993), Issue 4, pp. 203–232, doi : 10.5169 / seals-246702
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 132
- ↑ Historical description of the Käfigturm ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 133
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 137
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 134
- ↑ History of the Käfigturm, page 2 ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (pdf; 1.2 MB)
- ^ Hofer: Art Monuments of the Canton of Bern. Volume 1, 1952-1998, p. 138
- ↑ History of the Käfigturm, page 4 ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (pdf; 1.2 MB)
- ↑ Photographs and images of the city of Bern
Coordinates: 46 ° 56 ′ 53 " N , 7 ° 26 ′ 38" E ; CH1903: 600400 / one hundred and ninety-nine thousand six hundred sixty-three
