Exhibition traces Bern’s path from war to peace

Duke Berthold V oversees the laying of the foundtion stone for Bern in 1191. Bern History Museum

Switzerland's violent past is recalled in graphic detail by an exhibition marking the 650th anniversary of Bern joining the Confederation.

Using life-size models, it shows how Swiss soldiers were once feared throughout Europe, whether fighting as mercenaries for foreign powers or for the expansion of Switzerland.

“Of War and Peace” begins in the period leading up to 1353, when Bern entered into an alliance with the much smaller confederate states of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, laying the foundations for modern-day Switzerland.

Berchtold V, Duke of Zähringen, who wanted to build a stronghold on the River Aare, founded the city in 1191.

According to legend, he named the town after the first animal he killed – a bear – while hunting in the wooded surroundings of his new town.

By the Middle Ages, Bern had become by force of arms one of the most powerful city states north of the alps, extending its influence eastwards towards Austria, southwards to Milan and, significantly, annexing French-speaking Vaud to the west.

Horror of war

The exhibition, in Bern’s history museum, takes visitors from battle to battle, with models and contemporary paintings which pull no punches in illustrating the horror of war.

“In recent years many museums have put their old weapons into storage because they didn’t want to show war in a country which has been at peace for 200 years,” museum director Peter Jetzler told swissinfo.

“I believe it’s very important to show both sides. Swiss soldiers were once the cruellest in Europe, killing their prisoners as they fought.

“This is a fundamental part of Swiss history. The country probably became peaceful because it had such a cruel past.”

Ambitious project

But the exhibition, which Jezler says is one of the most ambitious in which he’s been involved, devotes only one of its five sections to war.

The others trace the social and political history of Bern up to the late 18th century, when it was occupied for a time by French revolutionary forces.

Napoleon’s troops toppled the “ancien régime”, a small group of privileged families who had ruled the city since the 17th century, thereby ending Bern’s position of authority.

Before their withdrawal, the invaders helped lay the foundations for the Switzerland of today.

Council chamber

The museum has recreated the ruling elite’s council chamber, as well as rooms such as the salon of a typical well-to-do family.

Gold, silverware and porcelain objects are on display, and the walls are lined with contemporary portraits of army generals and members of the noble families.

One fascinating object is a drinking vessel in the shape of a leopard, made by a Bernese goldsmith in 1690.

It was commissioned by King William III of England and presented as a gift to the Swiss Confederates in a bid to recruit mercenaries from their ranks to support his army.

This somewhat expensive bribe failed to win them over, but Bern kept the leopard and it’s been public property ever since.

Birth of a nation

“Of War and Peace” is an ambitious exhibition which, while illustrating the history of Bern, raises fascinating “What if…?” questions about the evolution of Switzerland into an affluent and peaceful state consisting of 26 cantons.

“Had Bern and the Confederates not made their treaty in 1353, who knows whether the Confederation would have become Switzerland? Anything could have happened,” says Jetzler.

“For example by annexing what is now canton Vaud and allowing it to establish its own French-speaking administration, Bern paved the way for the expansion of a French culture co-existing with the German-speaking regions.

“It marked the beginning of Swiss tolerance, with different cultures living in peace together.”

The exhibition is at Bern’s Historical Museum until November 30.

swissinfo, Richard Dawson

In brief

Bern was founded in 1191 by Berchtold V, Duke of Zähringen, who wanted to build a stronghold on the River Aare.

The oldest coat of arms of the city dates from 1224 and contains a bear, Bern’s heraldic animal, as well as the name of Bern. Legend has it that the name was given after a hunt in the wooded surroundings of his new town in which the duke’s first prey was a bear.

In 1353 Bern joined the Swiss Confederation. The greater part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1405. The houses were built up again on the old foundations but instead of wood, sandstone from nearby quarries was used as building material.

Bern went on to occupy land both to the east and west, mostly at the expense of the Houses of Habsburg and Savoy. Large territories alongside Lake Geneva came under Bernese rule and it is largely thanks to Bern that much of the French part of Switzerland is today within the Confederation.

The invasion of the French in 1798 destroyed Bern’s position of authority and a new Switzerland emerged in 1815. It became the federal Swiss capital in 1848.