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Bern’s cathedral relit for safety reasons

Bern Minster at night
Relight my spire: Bern's Minster cathedral is in the flight path of Bern Airport © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Bern Minster, the Swiss capital’s 101-metre high cathedral, will be illuminated again with immediate effect so planes don’t crash into it. This reverses a measure taken last week to save energy.

The city of Bern announced the decisionExternal link on Thursday after consulting the Federal Office of Civil Aviation.

The 600-year-old Gothic cathedralExternal link, which has the highest spire in Switzerland, encroaches on the approach path of Bern Airport, the city said, but as a historic building it doesn’t have a navigation light on top of the spire. Therefore, from Thursday evening spotlights will once again illuminate the Minster.

In order to reduce energy consumption, the city of Bern has not lit public and historic buildings for a week.

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