Page 69 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Switzerland

Must See
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1 This winter landscape of
broken ice carried downstream
by a wide river (Ice on the River)
was painted in 1882 by the
Impressionist Claude Monet.
2 Visitors survey some of
the well-curated works on
display at the Kunstmuseum.
3 Busts line the walls of
the Kunstmuseum’s grand
3 19th-century staircase.
Working alongside paintings
by Ferdinand Hodler, inside
the Neo-Renaissance
Kunstmuseum (inset)
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ZYTGLOGGE
 B3 ⌂ Bim Zytglogge 1 § 031 328 12 12 # Apr–Oct & 26–31 Dec: 2:30–
3:20pm daily
The eclectic Zytglogge, also widely known as the Zeitglockenturm,
EXPERIENCE Bern is Bern’s most striking central landmark. Located at the heart of
the medieval Old Town – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – this clock
tower is one of the most visited sights in the city.
The clock tower was the town’s west gate from 1191 to 1250, when it
was superseded by the Käfigturm. Rebuilt after the fire of 1405,
the Zytglogge was then used as a prison. Its distinctive astro­
nomical clock was made by Caspar Brunner in 1527–30 and
contains mechanical figures, including bears and a crow­
ing cock that begin their procession on the clock’s east
face four minutes before it strikes the hour. A guided
tour allows visitors to observe the clock’s impressive
original mechanism (still in working order although
no longer used), as well as see the rooms in the
tower and admire the view.
Internal mechanics of the
astronomical clock on
display in the tower
Bern’s picturesque Aare River
and medieval Old Town, with the THE TOWER’S BELL
top of the Zytglogge seen on the left With a diameter of
127 cm (50 in) and a
weight of 1,400 kg
(3,100 lb) the tower’s
hour bell has remained
unchanged since the
tower’s construction.
An inscription carved
on the bell reads, in
Latin: “In the October
month of the year 1405
I was cast by Master
John called Reber of
Aarau. I am vessel and
wax, and to all I tell the
hours of the day.” Below
it hangs the smaller
quarter hour bell, cast
The tall spire and clockface of the in 1887 to replace the
Zytglogge rising above the red- cracked 1486 original.
roofed buildings of the Old Town
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