Zytglogge, Bern
The time bell of Bern – jacks, jester, and golden Chronos performing four minutes to every hour since 1530, Einstein’s muse on his tram home.
At a glance
- Type
- Clock tower (within Bern UNESCO old town)
- Period
- Tower c. 1220; astronomical clock 1530
- Style
- Medieval with baroque painting
- Location
- Kramgasse head, Bern, Switzerland
- Coordinates
- 46.9480, 7.4474
- Clockmaker
- Kaspar Brunner, 1527-1530
Overview
The Zytglogge – Bern’s first west gate of 1220, then prison, then the city’s master clock – performs each hour’s approach: the jester jangles, bears parade, the cock crows thrice, and gilded Chronos turns his hourglass as the jacks strike. Kaspar Brunner’s 1530 movement still runs the show; the astronomical dial below reads zodiac, moon, and the planet hours.
History
All Bernese standard distances measured from the tower; its keeper’s apartment watched the arcades’ commerce. Einstein’s Kramgasse flat faced it – the patent clerk’s tram thought-experiments on time rode past the city’s clock, biography’s neat poetry. The UNESCO old town’s sandstone arcades parade from its arch.
Architecture and Design
The east face’s baroque fresco crowns the calendar dial’s astrolabe; inside, the going train’s stone weights drop through the medieval shaft. Tour visitors stand inside the striking – the machine’s body experienced.
Cultural significance
The Zytglogge is civic time’s monument – regulation, spectacle, and the relativity anecdote’s prop – Bern’s emblem at the arcades’ crossing.
Visiting today
Hourly performance free from the street (gather at :56); interior clockwork tours book via Bern tourism. Einstein’s house museum neighbours down Kramgasse.
Getting there
Bern station walks five arcaded minutes; trams cross at the tower’s square.
Sources and resources
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Diventa un fotografo di Cultural Heritage Online
Condividi le tue foto dei luoghi: restano pubblicate con la tua firma come autore. Più vengono viste, più ti fai conoscere — e presto un concorso premierà le foto più apprezzate.
Accedi o registrati gratis per aggiungere una foto