Christoffelturm
The Christoffelturm was a tower built between the years 1344 and 1346, which featured a prominently displayed statue of Saint Christopher. It was located in the old part of the Swiss city of Bern, in the upper section of Spitalgasse, near Holy Spirit Church.
After a political decision on December 15, 1864, the Christoffelturm was removed by Gottlieb Ott, a Swiss building contractor. Ott began the destruction of the tower in spring of the following year.[1]
The decision to remove the tower, which had become a landmark of sorts, was not met without opposition,[2] and the motion of removal succeeded only by a 415 to 411 vote.
During an extended period of time, other statues existed near or actually on the site where the tower used to stand. These included a statue of King David, both as a boy holding a slingshot, and as a man. An early 20th century plan to erect a figure of the Bernese knight Rudolf von Erlach was never realised.
Other towers in Bern[edit]
Bern's other medieval guard towers are the Zytglogge and the Käfigturm. These towers still stand today.
Zytglogge[edit]
In the Zytglogge (Clock Tower), a figure of the Greek god Kronos or Chronos strikes the bell atop the tower each hour.[3]
The tower was originally of wood, when it was built sometime between 1218 and 1220.[3] It survived until sometime in the very early 15th century, when it was burned down in the fire that struck the city in 1405.[4]
However, it was rebuilt with a new stone design, and has stood ever since. It was when it was rebuilt that it was fitted with a clock. The clock too, however, soon broke, and was left unserviced and broken for 122 years before 1530, when Caspar Brunner installed a new well-functioning mechanism.[3]
Käfigturm[edit]
The Käfigturm (Cage Tower), built 1256, ceased to be a prison in 1897.[5]
Notes[edit]
- ^ "www.iam.unibe.ch". Archived from the original on 26 January 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- ^ "The Fight for Christoffelturm" (in German). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- ^ a b c "Bern: The Zytglogge". Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- ^ "Zytglogge the Time Bell". Archived from the original on 23 February 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- ^ "Käfigturm information". Archived from the original on 29 January 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
External links[edit]
- Information on Christoffelturm
- Information on Christoffelturm
- Information on Zytglogge
- Information on Käfigturm
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