The Federal Square of Bern

6 September 2023

The part of the city centre, the Federal Square (Bundesplatz), of Bern was once a part of the medieval fortifications, and a moat called the ‘Oberer Graben’. They were built before 1256.

This area developed further between the years 1570 and 1630. The Square reached its present form in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1858, the city commissioned a monumental fountain to adorn the square in front of the new Federal Palace. The basin was designed by the architect of the Palace, Friedrich Studer (1817-1879). The four swans are the work of sculptor Joseph Hubert Verbunt (1809-1870). They symbolise the four rivers: the Rhone, the Rhine, the Reuss and the Ticino. The principal figure represents Berna (modelled in 1863 by the sculptor Rahpael Christen (1811-1880), goddess of the city, and not Helvetia.

The Federal Square is bounded by the Parliament Building of the Swiss Confederation and the seat of the Federal Government (Curia Confoederationis Helveticae), the Swiss National Bank (Schweizerische Nationalbank) and the Bernese Cantonal Bank (Berner Kantonalbank). The fountain has 26 water jets, representing the 26 cantons.

(Source: www.bundesplatz.bern.ch).