Old City of Bern
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How it came to be
Bern was founded by the Zähringen family on a hill surrounded by the river Aare. According to a 14th-century chronicle, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen founded it in 1191. After he died without an heir, Bern became a free imperial city in 1218, and it joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1353.
The town grew westward in stages; the Zytglogge clock tower marked its western edge from 1191 until 1256. After a great fire in 1405, wooden houses were replaced with half-timbered ones and then with the sandstone buildings seen today. Six kilometres of arcades line the streets, eleven fountains with allegorical figures were set up in the 16th century, and work on the cathedral began in 1421.
In 1848 the parliament of the new Swiss federal state chose Bern as the federal city. Protected by special legislation since 1908, the old town was inscribed in 1983 as a city that kept its medieval plan while taking on the role of a capital.
Data: Wikidata (CC0). Photos: Wikimedia Commons, under each photo’s license. Prototype; may contain errors. We measure usage anonymously to improve the app (PostHog, EU).