Of Water and Cheese — The Burnt Green of Bern
The street scenes of Bern left an everlasting impression on my mind. At first sight of Bern, I was surprised by its colors. The main color is a burnt green, consistently present in most of the sandstone buildings in the Altstadt. This burnt green is a shade lighter, and creamier, than the camouflage green used in the U.S. army. The buildings look very elegant. It is a kind of color that gives an aged vibe, perfectly befitting to Bern being a city that has stood the test of time.
Yet on top of the Műnster St Vinzenz, I looked onto a completely different impression of Bern. The tops of the buildings are all in red. The warm hue seemed to express welcome, quite unlike the slightly colder tone of burnt green as I observed on the ground.
As compared to the Vieille Ville of Lausanne, Bern showed a clear sense of order and planning. Not to say that Lausanne was disorderly, it was just not the same precision with which the German-speaking Bern built its old town.
Perhaps Lausanne was not a good comparison to the capital of Switzerland. The founder of Bern was Berthold V, Duke of Zahringen. Legend had it that he decided to name the settlement after the first animal that he hunted. It turned out to be a bear (Bär) and thus Bärn was the name of this settlement. In 1353, Bern joined the Swiss Confederation.
A fire destroyed Bern’s then timber-made buildings in 1405. Thereafter its people rebuilt the town in stone, and thus, the beautiful sandstone buildings we see today in this archaic city. According to my guide book, the town has retained its character since. In 1528, the Bernese declared itself Protestant. It has since brought Protestantism to other regions in Switzerland, including Lausanne.
The cobbled streets of Bern were once treaded upon by the troops of Napoleon, who made, in the history of Switzerland, the only invasion ever into this country in 1798. In 1848, Bern was chosen as the federal capital of Switzerland.
Many beautiful statues and fountains dot along Bern’s main streets. They are the landmarks with which tourists can distinguish between the many seemingly identical rows of green sandstone buildings. By the time I was back in town from Zentrum Paul Klee, I thought I had seen Bern. My final walk was to the oldest church in Bern and the Kornhaus, which used to serve as a granary but now a cultural center. The train for Lausanne departed at 5:40pm and I duly came back to the home base at 6:18. What a fulfilling day in the capital of Switzerland.
I did not do very much research on the history of Bern before or after my trip. I do think though that what I have written here suffice in terms of learning about the capital of Switzerland (and it’s not Geneva or Zurich!) The Altstadt is an incredibly pleasant walk. My only regret was that the Zytglogge closed for renovation. If given a chance, I would visit Bern again just to see it.
The historical descriptions of this entry came from DK Eyewitness Travel Switzerland.