Swiss surprise

Dazzled by the Alps, many tourists often overlook Berne, the Swiss capital that
has still retained its medieval charm, writes Nivedita Choudhuri 

LAND-LOCKED and ringed by beautiful mountains, Switzerland has been attracting travellers for centuries. Its striking topography provides plenty of opportunities all the year round to the sports-loving tourists, who can spend their summers hiking and mountaineering, and the winters racing the ski-slopes.

Many a tourist, in their hurry to reach the famous Swiss mountains, often steer clear of Berne and miss out on many of the wonders of this the vibrant city that has been the capital of Switzerland since 1848.

The city has some amazingly preserved buildings and streets that date back to mediaeval times. A beautiful example is the mediaeval town centre, which was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1983. Berne shares this status with, among other cities, Venice, Florence and Agra.

The cobbled streets and pale grey-green sandstone houses in the Old Town are a pleasure to explore. Each of the 11 Renaissance fountains in the old town, all from the 16th century, represent a different aspect of the city’s past.

Square banners with the colours of the Swiss cantons and the traditional craft guilds flutter everywhere; geraniums on thousands of windowsills and balconies enliven the sandstone facades. From dusk to midnight, many buildings and monuments are floodlit.

Berne’s oldest structure is the former western gate, built between 1191 and 1295 but adapted into a Clock Tower (Zytglogge) in 1530 with an enormous astronomical clock and hourly sideshow of revolving bears. It’s said the Clock Tower helped Albert Einstein work on his Theory of Relativity, developed while working as a patent clerk in Berne.

Berne sounds like it has something to do with bears, and indeed it does. The city’s quirkiest attraction is its Bear Pits. Legend has it that Berchtold V, Duke of Zahringen, who founded the city in 1191, named it after the first animal killed in a hunt, which was a bear. For nearly 500 years these creatures have been kept on public display. Animal-rights activists have long disapproved of the small dens as cruel, and there’s talk of building a larger park for the bears soon.

Another tourist attraction is the Zentrum Paul Klee, an eye-catching museum that opened its doors to art lovers in 2005. The museum is devoted to artist Paul Klee (1879-1940), his life and his works. The artist, who also dabbled in music, teaching and poetry, spent half of his life in Berne. Of the 10,000 or so works that make up Klee’s oeuvre, at least 40 per cent, that is to say around 4,000 paintings, watercolours and drawings as well as biographic material, has been brought together at the museum. The building housing the collections is remarkable — it curves up and down like ocean waves, forming three ‘hills’ on a agricultural landscape on the outskirts of the town.

Berne has used its Einstein connection quite adroitly. The scientist’s humble apartment Einstein Haus, where he lived with his young family from 1903 to 1905, attracts many visitors. The flat, on the second floor of Kramgasse No. 49, has been restored in the style of that period to reflect Einstein’s crucial years in Berne. The entrance has been redecorated as well as the stairway, which welcomes visitors with an illustration of the Milky Way. The old spiral staircase to the second floor has been left in its original state; giving free flight to a visitor’s imagination how Einstein walked up and down these stairs daily.

The living conditions in which Einstein, his Serbian-born first wife Mileva and their son Hans Albert lived are shown quites accurately in the apartment on the second floor with furniture from that time as well as pictures and texts.

Another famous tourist attraction is the 15th-century Gothic Munster (cathedral), its feathery spire — the highest in Switzerland — towering over the Old Town. It’s a reverential and awe-inspiring place, both for its lofty and grand interior and the terrific view on a clear day from its tower all the way to the Bernese Alps. But as a clich`E9 says "No pain, no gain", it is a 100m climb up a steep and narrow spiral of 254 stone stairs.

Entry to the cathedral is through the right-hand gate. The immense roof span is laced around with vaulting; the aisles are flanked by rows of porches and small chapels. The nave, with square pillars placed diagonally, has the original 1470 pulpit channels facing the stained glass of the choir. The choir stalls have gorgeous stained-glass windows that date back to 1450.

On the south side of the church is the Munsterplattform, a buttressed terrace above the River Aare, which took about 100 years to build from 1334 onwards.

The city was originally built on a hilly peninsula, surrounded by River Aare. It outgrew these natural boundaries in the 19th century. A number of bridges were built to allow the city to grow beyond the river.

Built on uneven ground, most of the old city falls on the hillside. It is connected to the surrounding area by tall bridges over the river. It’s a long way down but the views are breathtaking.

Of all Swiss cities, Berne still retains its old-world charm — in its lanes that have barely changed in over 500 years, the heavily wooded hills and riverbanks and breathtaking views of the Old Town and the majestic Alps. No wonder tourists still eulogise the city long after the snapshots have faded.

HOME