Sculptures

Until a hundred years ago, the public fountain played a very important role in the life of the city since it was the place of the central water supply. The incomparably beautiful sight of the medieval streets would be incomplete without the numerous fountains whose colorful figures and columns enliven the grey monotony of the long-stretched rows of facades.

The Oppenheim fountain is situated on Bern’s Waisenhausplatz and was created by the artist Meret Oppenheim. It was set into operation in 1983. Symbolising growth and life, it comprises an eight-metre high concrete column, down which water flows in a spiral.

When the international prizes were being awarded by the Universal Postal Union in 1903/04, René de St. Marceaux (Paris) won 1st prize. His design was cast in bronze in 1908 and unveiled in the Kleine Schanze park on 4 October 1909.

The main porch, which survived the Reformation, leads into Bern's cathedral. It was extensively restored in the years leading up to 1991 and shows the Last Judgment in a highly figurative representation of the saved and the damned.