Town Hall (Bern)

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The town hall in Bern (2007).
Session of the Grand Council (2006).

The Bern town hall at Rathausplatz 2 is the historic town hall of Bern and to this day the political center of the city and canton of Bern .

use

The Grand Council of the Canton of Bern meets here for four annual sessions . When parliament is in session, the Bernese flag is hoisted on the roof of the town hall .

The seat of the cantonal government is also located in the town hall. The members of the government council meet on Wednesday in the government room for their regular meetings.

The legislature of the city of Bern, the Bern City Council, meets every Thursday in the Grand Council Chamber . In addition, the Synod , the parliament of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Bern , meets here regularly .

Building history

The building was built between 1406 and 1415 in the late Gothic style under Heinrich von Gengenbach and Hans Hetzel, a carpenter from Rottweil , and was put into operation as early as 1414. During the Helvetic era , the town hall was called the “parish hall”. From 1865 to 1868 a neo-Gothic renovation took place under Friedrich Salvisberg .

With the renovation according to plans by Martin Risch, the town hall got its current character between 1940 and 1942 under the socialist building director Robert Grimm . The hall on the ground floor was restored, but the remaining room of the Small Council was destroyed. The socialist ideas of Grimm, paired with intellectual national defense, can be clearly seen in the building, especially in the sculptures that were newly created by various artists for the town hall.

In 1993 the town hall escaped an explosion by the Jurassic separatist Christophe Bader .

Furnishing

South facade, Diogenes , by Gustave Piguet (1942)

The sculptor Gustave Piguet designed the south facade in 1942. On the left side truth , angels , Diogenes , virtues and Saint Martin , on the right side lies , Satan , Samson , vice and cowardice . In the inner courtyard of the intermediate wing, Max Fueter designed the Hermes fountain and the three masks above the windows.

In the hall on the ground floor there are historical panes of the Thirteen Places in the windows , the paintings Old Swiss Warriors and Schwinger Parade by Ferdinand Hodler and the typeface Light, Time and Space - Libertà - Ouvrir le passé à l'avenir by Rudolf Mumprecht from the year 1991. Arnoldo d'Altri's dragon animal from 1940/1942 adorns the end of the handrail on the stairs to the first floor .

In the foyer there are two council tables by Mathäus Funk from the years 1745 and 1754, the council pendulum from 1753 made by Mathäus Funk and Daniel Funk , paintings by Ferdinand Hodler and Martin Lauterburg and on the ceiling stucco on the history of Bern by Otto Kappeler (1884-1949). The east side of the Grossratssaal is adorned by Karl Walser's monumental mural Structure from 1942, which shows the construction of the city of Bern. The windows contain standing panes from all Swiss cantons from 1953, almost without exception created by artists from the respective cantons ( Felix Hoffmann etc.). The sculpture construction worker on the north facade was created by the Bernese sculptor and painter Karl Schenk .

literature

  • Christoph Auer, Vinzenz Bartlome, Barbara Studer Immenhauser (eds.): Center of Power. 600 years Bern Town Hall (= Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte. Volume 79/3). Bern 2017, OCLC 1006749441 .
  • Julius Baum : The portrait of King Sigmund from the Bern town hall. In: Yearbook of the Bern Historical Museum in Bern. XX. Year, 1940, pp. 16–27.
  • Ursula Bishop Scherer, Heinrich Scherer: Vo Zyt zu Zyt. Bernese clocks over the centuries. Bern 1992, DNB 930646436 .
  • Hermann von Fischer : FONCK A BERNE. Furniture and equipment from the Funk artisan family in the 18th century in Bern. Bern 2002, ISBN 3-7272-9115-X .
  • Adolf Fluri : The old burger parlor. In: Leaves for Bernese history, art and antiquity. Volume 20, 1924, doi: 10.5169 / seals-186264 .
  • Adolf Fluri: The old council chamber. Subsequent notes. In: New Bernese paperback. Volume 21, 1915, doi: 10.5169 / seals-128951 .
  • Dario Gamboni, Georg Germann (ed.): Signs of freedom. The image of the republic in the art of the 16th to 20th centuries. Bern 1991, ISBN 3-7272-9185-0 .
  • Dario Gamboni: The Bern Council Chamber. In: Signs of Freedom. Bern 1991, pp. 354-375.
  • Robert Grimm: The town hall of Bern. Bern 1944, DNB 580024849 .
  • Paul Hofer: The art monuments of the canton of Bern. The state buildings of the city of Bern. Basel 1947. (1982, ISBN 3-7643-1391-9 )
  • Gottlieb Kurz: The Bernese town hall inventory from 1798. In: Leaves for Bernese history, art and antiquity. Volume 13, 1917, pp. 76-82. (Digitized version)
  • Eduard von Rodt : The town hall in Bern. In: Leaves for Bernese history, art and antiquity. Volume 18, 1922, doi: 10.5169 / seals-185086
  • Michael Stettler : The town hall of Bern 1406–1942. Bern 1942, DNB 362456372 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Rathaus (Bern)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 56 '55.4 "  N , 7 ° 27' 8.4"  E ; CH1903:  601044  /  one hundred ninety-nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven