Kramgasse

The Kramgasse ("Grocers Alley") is one of the principal streets in the Old City of Berne, the medieval city center of Berne, Switzerland. It was the center of urban life in Berne up until the 19th century. [de Capitani, 8.] Today, it is a busy shopping street. Its length, slight curve and long line of Baroque façades combine to produce Berne's most impressive streetscape. [Caviezel et al., 188.]

The Kramgasse and its buildings are a heritage site of national significance [Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance (1995), p. 103.] and part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.

Topography

The Kramgasse is some 330 meters long [Hofer, 242.] and lies at the center of the old city. It is the western half of the central axis of the city's oldest part, the "Zähringerstadt", built right after the founding of the city in 1191. [Hofer, 242.] It is bounded to the west by the "Zytglogge", Berne's iconic clock tower that served as the city's main gate tower in the 12th century. In the east, the "Kreuzgasse", literally a "crossroads", separates it from the other half of the old main street, the "Gerechtigkeitsgasse". Several narrow alleys and passageways connect the Kramgasse to the parallel "Rathausgasse" in the north and the "Münstergasse" in the south.

The Kramgasse cannot be reached by car without a special permit. It is accessible by foot, bike or by means of the Bernmobil bus line no. 12 that runs through it and has stops at either end of the street ("Zytglogge" and "Rathaus"). Both sides of the Kramgasse are covered with "Lauben", stone arcades that protect pedestrians from inclement weather.

History

The Kramgasse was known as the "Märitgasse" (Swiss German for "Market Alley") up until the 15th century and as the "Vordere Gasse" during the 16th century. [Hofer, 242.] The changes in name reflect the street's changes in character. In medieval times, it served as the city's marketplace, but after the Reformation the market stands were gradually replaced by stores. [Hofer, 243.] The street remained the commercial center of the city up until the middle of the 19th century, [Hofer, 243; de Capitani, 11.] its heyday being the 1840s. [de Capitani, 11.]

Over the centuries, the street was slowly gentrified. Throughout the 19th century, residents complained about the waste, smell and noise associated with the "Schaal", an open hall of butcher's stalls vis-à-vis the "Simsonbrunnen". [de Capitani, 8.] The Schaal was eventually demolished in 1938 and a conservatory built in its place, disrupting the medieval streetscape. [Caviezel et al., 191.; de Capitani, 23.] Local legend has it that a calf once flayed alive here still haunts the place of its death with frightful bleats. [de Capitani, 9.]

In the second half of the 19th century, the commercial significance of the Kramgasse waned as business moved to the newer, western part of the city [de Capitani, 11.] and the authorities shut down the many noisy cellar taverns. [de Capitani, 11.] At the turn of the 20th century, the Kramgasse was already a tourist attraction. [de Capitani, 15.] Beginning in the 1920s, buses and tramways were routed through it, [de Capitani, 18.] and from the 1970s on, motor traffic was gradually prohibited throughout the lower Old City. [de Capitani, 24.] The number of apartments on the Kramgasse steadily dwindled as they came to be replaced by shops and offices. [de Capitani, 26.] In 2005, the street was thoroughly renovated and its cobblestone pavement replaced. [Caviezel et al., 188.] The city ditch ("Stadtbach") running through the middle of the street since medieval times is now visible again through metal gratings.

Buildings

Apart from a few cellars, only fragments of the current buildings on the Kramgasse date from before 1500. [Hofer, 246.] Many of the private town-houses retain elements from the Late Gothic period. [Hofer, 250; Caviezel et al., 189.] There are very few preserved 17th century façades. [Hofer, 253.] Between 1705 and 1745, the façades and parts of the interior of 72 of the street's 85 buildings were rebuilt in the Baroque style, [Caviezel et al., 188.] many of them by the noted architect Albrecht Stürler or his students.

Three fountains decorate the street. At the eastern crossroads, the "Kreuzgassbrunnen" [Location: coord|46.94801560179188|7.452056407928467|display=inline|source:GoogleMaps_type:landmark_region:CH-BE] was the model for all other obelisk fountains of Berne; it was built 1778–79 by Christian Reist and Johann Conrad Wiser. [Caviezel et al., 188.] In the center, the "Simsonbrunnen" [Location: coord|46.947982643040234|7.450406849384308|display=inline|source:GoogleMaps_type:landmark_region:CH-BE] was built in 1527 and decorated with a figure by Hans Gieng of Samson taming the lion in 1543. [Caviezel et al., 188.] The "Zähringerbrunnen" [Location: coord|46.947978980955476|7.449055016040802|display=inline|source:GoogleMaps_type:landmark_region:CH-BE] at the western end of the street is Berne's first figure-topped fountain, an interesting combination of historical tradition and heraldic personification. [Caviezel et al., 188.] It was built by Hans Hiltprand in 1535, depicting an armoured bear – Berne's heraldic beast – bearing the arms of the house of Zähringen. [Caviezel et al., 188.]

House no. 2, at the eastern end of the street, houses Berne's oldest apothecary's since 1527; the 1824 hardwood interior of the drugstore is unique as the earliest witness of the Gothic Revival in Berne. [Caviezel et al., 189.] The cellar of house no. 4 dates from the 13th century, Berne's oldest building period. [Caviezel et al., 189.] House no. 7 is completely preserved in its state of 1559 and the city's most impressive ensemble of secular Late Gothic architecture; its rich interior is preserved in the Historical Museum. [Caviezel et al., 189–90.] No. 19 was built together with no. 21 in 1735–40 and is representative of the Bernese Régence style; it was used as a family town house up until the 1970s. [Caviezel et al., 190.] No. 29, the "Zunfthaus zu Kaufleuten" ("Merchants' Guildhouse") is the most significant Late Baroque Bernese town house, built 1718–20 by Niklaus Schiltknecht and equipped with a guild hall with impressive Baroque boiseries and furniture. [Caviezel et al., 190.] No. 17–21 are the headquarters of the police department of the canton of Berne, in the course of whose establishment here in the 1950s the historical interior was largely destroyed. [Caviezel et al., 191.] No. 41 features one of the few Humanist house mottoes that survived the 18th century building boom; it reads: "What's most beautiful is highest justice, what's best is to be healthy, but what's most joyful is to attain what one desires." [Caviezel et al., 191.]

The "Zunfthaus zu Metzgern" ("Butchers' Guildhouse"), no. 45, is a 1769 construction by Rudolf Augst, a student of Niklaus Sprüngli. [Caviezel et al., 191.] No. 61 features the first use of the colossal order in a private building in Berne; its back-house, Münstergasse no. 56, is one of the few purely pre-Baroque town houses. [Caviezel et al., 192.] No. 54 is recognised as one of the finest works of Bernese town house architecture and as the best work of Albrecht Stürler. [Caviezel et al., 192.] No. 81, in turn, has been characterised as a low-key masterpiece by Niklaus Sprüngli because of its tensely elegant, barely adorned façade. [Caviezel et al., 193.]

Famous residents

House no. 49, the "Einsteinhaus", was the residence of Albert and Mileva Einstein from 1903 to 1905 and the place where Einstein wrote his Annus Mirabilis Papers. The house is now a small museum and memorial to the great physicist. [cite news|publisher=Swissinfo|title=Walking in Einstein's footsteps|date=May 19, 2006|author=Dale Bechtel|url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/Walking_in_Einstein_s_footsteps.html?siteSect=22121&sid=6714194.] Einstein's apartments were on the first floor, above the restaurant "Zum untern Juker". [Ried, 57.]

Albrecht von Haller, the Bernese naturalist, resided in no. 25 in the 1750s. [Ried, 56.] Federal Councillor Max Petitpierre lived in no. 61 during his time in office. [Ried, 58.] Other notable Bernese who lived on the Kramgasse include two "Schultheisse", Niklaus Friedrich von Steiger and Karl Friedrich von Tscharner (in no. 61 and 74, respectively), illustrator Albert Lindegger (in no. 82 and 17) and art historian Wilhelm Stein (in no. 43). [Ried, 57–8.]

Amenities

The Kramgasse is one of Berne's main shopping streets. Among others, it features antiquaries, drugstores, bakeries, banks, jewelers' stores, bookstores, art galleries, boutiques, restaurants, furniture stores, opticians' stores, furriers, watch dealerships and wine cellars. [cite web|title=Kramgassleist website|url=http://www.kramgasse.ch/shopping/shopping.html|accessdate=2008-05-31]

Berne's oldest cinema, the Capitol, is located on the Kramgasse, as are numerous small theaters, mostly set up in the medieval cellars ("Kellertheater"). [cite web|title=Kramgassleist website|url=http://www.kramgasse.ch/kultur/kultur.html|accessdate=2008-05-31] For the duration of the UEFA Euro 2008 football championship in June, the Kramgasse has been designated as a fan zone. [cite web|title=Kramgassleist website|url=http://www.kramgasse.ch/agenda/agenda_detail.html?id=32|accessdate=2008-05-31]

Notes

References

*Citation
last = de Capitani
first = François
year = 1983
contribution = Im Brennpunkt der Altstadt: die Kramgasse
title = Kramgasse
publication-place = Berne
publisher = Kramgassleist
pages = 8 et seq.
isbn = 3-7280-5358-9
*Citation
last1 = Caviezel
first1 = Zita
last2 = Herzog
first2 = Georges
last3 = Keller
first3 = Jürg A.
year = 2006
title = Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn
edition = 1st
volume = 3
series = Kunstführer durch die Schweiz
publication-place = Berne
publisher = Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte
pages = 188 et seq.
isbn = 3-906131-97-1
*Citation
last = Limbach
first =Fridolin
year = 1978
title = Die schöne Stadt Bern: die bewegte Geschichte der alten "Märit-" oder "Meritgasse", der heutigen Gerechtigkeits- und Kramgasse und der alten Zähringerstadt Bern
place = Berne
publisher = Benteli
isbn = 3-7165-0273-1
*Citation
last = Hofer
first = Paul
year = 1952
series = Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern
volume = 1
title = Die Stadt Bern
publication-place = Basel
editor =
publisher = Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte / Verlag Birkhäuser
pages = 242 et seq.
url = http://digibiblio.unibe.ch/digibern/Chopin/Engine/Systematik/viewer.asp?KatalogID=1&ImgNum=719
isbn = 3-90613-113-0
*Citation
last = Ried
first = Jörg
year = 1983
contribution = Die Sprache einer «Grande Rue»
title = Kramgasse
publication-place = Berne
publisher = Kramgassleist
pages = 56 et seq.
isbn = 3-7280-5358-9

External links

* [http://www.kramgasse.ch Website of the "Kramgassleist"] , the Kramgasse residents' association.
* [http://www.berninfo.com/en/weather.cfm Kramgasse livecam] provided by the Berne Tourist Association.