Junkerngasse

The Junkerngasse ("Nobility Lane") is a street in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It connects the tip of the Aar peninsula (the ''Nydegg'' neighbourhood) to the Münster.

The Junkerngasse is the Old City's best-preserved street.Caviezel et al., 170. The riverfront of its palatial houses with their late Baroque façades and extensive garden terraces has been described in an art history guidebook as "one of Europe's most magnificent cityscapes".

Topography

The Junkerngasse connects to the generally parallel ''Gerechtigkeitsgasse'' and to the ''Nydegggasse'' in the east, and continues as the ''Münstergasse'' to the west. It is connected to the ''Gerechtigkeitsgasse'' by small alleyways leading north (''Oberes'' and ''Unteres Gerechtigkeitsgässchen''). The ''Bubenbergrain'' descends through the '' Bubenbergtor'', a former city gate, towards the river Aare in the south.

History

The street was called ''Kirchgasse'' ("Church Lane") up until the 16th century, and was renamed from ''Edle Gasse'' ("Noble Lane") to ''Junkerngasse'' in the 17th century. The latter names reflect the street's character as a residential area almost exclusively used by Bern's leading patrician families. Only a few houses (nos. 7–15) were originally craftsmen's houses.

The street's current topography reflects about the state of 1470. The earlier records are fragmentary, but at some time between 1430 and 1468 the city's earliest town hall was demolished at the Junkerngasse's the western end. Since then, the general structure of the street has remained unchanged. The pavement was replaced in 1998.

Buildings

The street's only fountain is the ''Junkerngassbrunnen'', a plain ''Stockbrunnen'' adorned with a 17th-century figure of a lion bearing a lance and the Bubenberg arms. No. 9 is the best-preserved of the Junkerngasse's Late Gothic craftsmen's houses.Caviezel et al., 171. No. 21, the ''von Scharnachthal'' house, is one of Berne's most elegant Early Baroque works by Friedrich May. The four-story street façade of no. 31 (1700–20) links Late Renaissance elements with the structure characteristic of the Bernese Late Baroque. The interior of No. 39 displays the skills of 18th-century Bernese craftsmen in transforming medieval townhouses into comfortable residences; the courtyard is particularly noted for its Baroque elegance. No. 43 (1784–86) is exemplary for Bernese architecture at the threshold between Late Baroque and Classicism.Caviezel et al., 173. No. 22 was the workshop of painter Friedrich Traffelet (1897–1954); it features a humorous façade painting of 1913. No. 22, the ''Morlot-Haus'' by Albrecht Türler, is the most ambitious building in the northern part of the street.Caviezel et al., 174.

The '' Erlacherhof'' (" Erlach Court"), no. 47, is the most significant private building, in historical and architectural terms, of the Old City. Built 1747–52 by Türler for Hieronymus von Erlach, it is the only application of Jacques-François Blondel's concept of ''palace entre cour et jardin'' – a palace between court and garden – in an urban setting. As the city's greatest urban palace, the ''Erlacherhof'' served as General Guillaume Brune's headquarters in 1798, as the seat of the French Embassy to Switzerland until 1832, and as the first seat of the Swiss Federal Council and the federal administration from 1848 to 1857. It has since been used as the seat of the government of the city of Bern. Part of its outer wall is the '' Bubenbergtor'', a 12th-century city gate and the oldest building in Bern that is still standing.Caviezel et al., 175. The house opposite the Erlacherhof on Junkerngasse No. 38 belonged to the legendary Bond Girl Ursula Andress.

The ''Zeerlederhaus'', no. 51, is noted for the 1897 painting by Rudolf Münger on its late Gothic façade. No. 59, the ''Béatrice-von-Wattenwyl-Haus,'' has been described as a concentrate of Bernese architectural history; it has not been significantly altered since its 18th-century reshaping by Joseph Abeille. In the ownership of the Swiss Confederation since 1934, it is now used for ceremonial events by the Federal Council.Caviezel et al., 178.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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{{coord, 46.9479, 7.4543, display=title, source:GoogleMaps_type:landmark_region:CH-BE

Streets in Bern
Old City (Bern)