Federal Palace of Switzerland
The Federal Palace is a building in Bern housing the Swiss Federal Assembly and the Federal Council. It is the seat of the government of Switzerland and parliament of the country. The building is a listed symmetrical complex just over long. It is considered one of the most important historic buildings in the country and listed in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Assets of National Importance. It consists of three interconnected buildings in the southwest of Bern's old city. The two chambers of the Federal Assembly, the National Council and Council of States, meet in the parliament building on Bundesplatz.
The oldest part of the Federal Palace is the west wing, built from 1852 to 1857 under Jakob Friedrich Studer. The building united the federal administration, government and parliament under one roof. To solve pressing space problems, the east wing was built from 1884 to 1892 under Hans Wilhelm Auer. Under Auer's direction, the parliament building in the center was erected between 1894 and 1902 to conclude the project. At the beginning of the 21st century, the first comprehensive renovation of the Federal Palace took place.
The west wing on Bundesgasse is the headquarters of two departments of the Federal Administration, and houses the Federal Chancellery and the Parliamentary Library; the Federal Council also holds its meetings here. Two other departments have their headquarters in the east wing on Kochergasse. The sobriety of the two wings corresponds to their main purpose as administrative buildings, contrasting with the more monumental parliament building constructed in neo-Renaissance style with a portico and a striking dome. The rich artistic decoration whose symbolism is based on the history, constitutional foundations and cultural diversity of Switzerland, as well as stone used from all parts of the country, underline the character of the parliament building as a national monument.
Location and urban classification
The Federal Palace is located on the south-western edge of the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on a fortification of the slope to the known as the Federal Terrace. The building complex extends over a length of just over 300 meters and consists of three parts: the Federal Palace West on, the Parliament Building on Bundesplatz and the Federal Palace East on Kochergasse. While the Federal Palace East is aligned from east to west, the other two parts of the building are each angled slightly to the south-west.Despite its size and dominant position, the Federal Palace blends into the cityscape due to the use of for the facades. The other buildings in the old town are also made of this building material, which has a greenish-grey colour. The Federal Palace is flanked by the former in the west and the Hotel Bellevue Palace in the east, which is also the official residence for state guests. In addition to the Federal Palace, the and the building of the Swiss National Bank border the federal square. The mountain station of the Marzili Funicular, which leads down to the Marzili district, is located on the Bundesterrasse between Federal Palace West and the Bernerhof.
The old University Hospital of Bern, built between 1718 and 1724 according to plans by the baroque master Franz Beer, stood on the site of today's Federal Palace East. When the hospital was demolished in 1888, the remains of the walls of the medieval monastery St. Michael zur Insel also revealed a Jewish tombstone, and another in 1901 when the Bundesplatz was created. These tombstones belonged to a cemetery that had been expropriated and sold in 1294 after the Jews had been expelled. An information board was installed at this location in September 2009 to commemorate local Jewish history.
Planning and construction history
Initial position
The modern Swiss federal state came into being when the federal constitution became effective on September 12, 1848, but the location of the nation's capital remained unresolved. On 28 November, the Federal Assembly voted in favor of Bern as the federal city and the seat of the federal authorities. Provisional solutions were necessary as there was no suitable central building to accommodate the government, parliament and federal administration. The Federal Council convened in the Erlacherhof; the National Council operated at an 1821-built music hall known as the "casino" and if necessary the Bern town hall; while the Council of States met in the. The federal court and administration moved into various buildings in the Old City.The ' was a public corporation representing the city's citizens and the powerful, and thus the superior municipality during the period. With a narrow majority, their assembly accepted the election of Bern as the federal city. However, it also transferred responsibility for the construction of the parliament and government building to the municipality, which had been formed only 15 years previously. The federal government lacked the authority to construct its own buildings, but this decision accelerated the political disempowerment of the civic community by liberal forces. This process was completed in 1852 with the transfer of autonomy to the ' and the separation of property.
In February 1849, the Federal Council commissioned the city authorities to survey suitable locations for a central building. The building was to accommodate the halls of both chambers of parliament, rooms for the Federal Council, 96 offices and the chancellor's apartment. Based on several suggestions, the Federal Council decided in favor of the area of the municipal timber yard next to the "casino", on the southern edge of the Old City and on the upper edge of the slope down to the Aare river. An architectural competition hosted by the municipal council began on 8 April 1850 for the Federal Town Hall. In a desire to avoid burdening Bern's citizens with extra loans and special taxes, the tender was deliberately thrifty and focused on cost savings. The proposed building was to be dignified but still as functional and simple as possible. Competitors were asked to avoid "useless splendor and exaggerated dimensions" and to use Bernese sandstone since the "surroundings of Bern have a wealth of the best and most beautiful sandstone".
Modest beginnings: West wing
The official jury consisted of the architects Melchior Berri, Ludwig Friedrich Osterrieth, Robert Roller and, as well as the building inspector Bernhard Wyss. Out of 37 submitted designs, that of Ferdinand Stadler emerged victorious. The jury awarded three further prizes: second place went to, third to Johann Carl Dähler, and fourth to Jean Franel. A special jury appointed by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects, but which had no influence on the project, judged the three first-place designs in reverse order of precedence.The losing competitors were assigned the central wing to the council chambers and the side wings to the administration. Dähler and Franel designed the larger National Council chamber in the form of an amphitheater. While Dähler had it protrude from the building as a roof crown, Franel planned a semicircular bulge in the facade. Kubly recognized that, unlike previous new European parliament buildings, two equal councils had to be considered and therefore abandoned the overly dominant semicircle in favor of two rectangular halls. A common theme in all three projects was the placement of both halls on the central axis, which led to unfavorable proportions of the central tract. Stadler, on the other hand, was able to convince a horseshoe-shaped layout. He allocated the central wing to the Federal Council and the administration and relegated the parliamentary chambers to the projecting side wings. In addition, he oriented himself stylistically not to classicism, but to the novel round-arched style of neo-Romanesque architecture. He used the buildings on Ludwigstrasse in Munich, in particular the Bavarian State Library, as a model.
Some critics disliked the staggering of the building and the continuous round arches. Stadler was put off by the objections and revised his design, adding classical elements. The revised design, however, met with even less approval. On 23 June 1851, the Bern City Council decided to commission the master builder to prepare a new design. Studer, who had not participated in the competition, adopted Stadler's original design and reintroduced the staggering while strengthening the round-arched style instead of toning it down. The revision found favor and Studer was awarded the building contract. After the terrace had been filled in, the foundation stone was laid on 21 September 1852. The ceremonial handover took place on 5 June 1857 following five years of construction.
In 1858, the was erected in the cour d'honneur of the Federal Town Hall, and a statue added five years later. The decorations in the council chambers were very sparse due to cost constraints. and his brother Ludwig painted four allegorical murals in the National Council Chamber and added ornamental designs. In 1861, the cantons donated coat-of-arms panels for the Council of States Hall, but these were removed just ten years later due to unfavorable lighting conditions. A commission headed by Federal Councillor Jakob Dubs proposed transforming the Federal Council Chamber into a national museum which would exhibit historical paintings and busts of famous Swiss personalities. The Council of States approved this proposal in 1865, but the National Council rejected it twice in 1866.
The building owner, the city of Bern, placed far greater value on properly functioning building services than on ostentation. Steam heating from Sulzer guaranteed warmth in all rooms even in winter. Of particular note in the otherwise sober building were the candelabras lit by gas lighting.
The municipal gasworks was located below the Bundesterrasse from 1841 to 1876 and thus in the immediate vicinity.
A project by Frank Buchser did not come to fruition: the victory of the Northern states in the American Civil War had triggered a wave of sympathy rallies in Switzerland. At the end of 1865, Buchser planned a mural in the National Council Chamber depicting the most important American personalities of the time, which was intended to express Switzerland's solidarity with the United States. Although he was able to produce portraits of numerous prominent people during his four-year stay in America, General Ulysses S. Grant refused to appear in the group portrait because his opponent Robert E. Lee was also to be depicted, and it was not done.