Bern Town Hall

The Vennerbrunnen (Banner Carrier or Vexillum Fountain) is a fountain on Rathausplatz in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland. It is a Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old City of Bern.

The Church of St. Peter and Paul is a Christian Catholic church in Bern, Switzerland. It is designated as a Cultural Property of National Significance

The Münstergasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the foundation of the old city in 1191. However, until 1967 it was parts of several other streets. It runs along the cathedral and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.

The Béatrice-von-Wattenwyl-Haus (also known as the Frisching-Haus) is a town mansion on the Junkerngasse No. 59 in the Old City of Bern, only a few steps away from the Erlacherhof. The mansion is built up of several medieval houses. This is still visible on the north façade (main entrance) which consists of 3 medieval houses. Between 1695 and 1710 on the order of its owner, the Bernese patrician Samuel Frisching (II), an ancestor of Franz Rudolf Frisching, the mansion underwent a rebuilt by the architect Joseph Abeille. Abeille restructured the interior of the mansion and added the elegant south façade in the Louis XIV style. In 1838 the mansion passed through marriage into the von Wattenwyl family. The last private owners of the mansion, the Bernese patricians Béatrice and Jakob Emanuel von Wattenwyl, had no children and bequeathed the mansion to the Swiss Confederation in 1929. When Jakob Emanuel von Wattenwyl, who survived his wife, died in 1934, the gift took effect. The mansion is still equipped with the original furniture mainly from the 18th and 19th century as well as many portrait paintings representing members of the Frisching and the von Wattenwyl families. To the mansion belongs the largest terraced garden of any privately built residences in the Old City of Bern. Nowadays, the mansion is used as the official town residence for ceremonial events by the Swiss Federal Council. The so-called von Wattenwyl talks exist since 1970, and are a regular forum to exchange opinions between the Federal Council and the heads of those parties that are represented in the Federal Council. The mansion is open to the public 4 times a year, every first Saturday in January, April, July and October.

The Zähringerstadt is a historic section in the Old City of Bern in Bern, Switzerland. The first expansion of Bern occurred as the city was founded in 1191. This central and oldest neighbourhood was known as the Zähringerstadt (Zähringer town) after the founder, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen. Most likely the first city started at Nydegg Castle on the Aare river and reached west on the narrow peninsula to the Zytglogge (Swiss German: clock tower). The city was divided by three longitudinal streets, which stretched from the Castle to the city wall. Both the position of the town church and the shape of the eaves were typical for a Zähringer city.During the first half of the 13th Century two additional streets (Brunngasse and Herrengasse) were added. Brunngasse was a semi-circular street on the north edge of the city, while Herrengasse was on the south side of the city. A wood bridge was built over the Aare River which allowed increased trade and limited settlements on the east bank of the river. The Zähringerstadt contained the medieval city's principal political, economic and spiritual institutions. These were strictly separated: official buildings were situated around the Kreuzgasse (Cross Alley), ecclesiastical buildings were located at the Münstergasse (Cathedral Alley) and Herrengasse (Lords' Alley), while guilds and merchants' shops clustered around the central Kramgasse (Grocers Alley) and Gerechtigkeitsgasse (Justice Alley). Junkerngasse (Junker Lane), which is parallel to Gerechtigkeitsgasse, was originally known as Kilchgasse (Church Lane) but was renamed because of number of patricians or untitled nobility which lived on the southern side of the peninsula. The original city wall between the Zähringerstadt and the Innere Neustadt was demolished during a later expansion and Kornhausplatz grew up in the area of the wall. The original city gate became the Zytglogge.

The Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Fountain of Justice) is a 16th-century fountain in the Gerechtigkeitsgasse in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland. It is the only Bernese fountain to retain all original design elements, and is listed as a cultural heritage of national significance.Thanks to its namesake figure, Hans Gieng's famous statue of Lady Justice, the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen surpasses all other Bernese fountains in artistic merit. The iconic figure was copied throughout Switzerland up until the middle of the 17th century. The statue is a copy of the original, which was largely destroyed by vandals in 1986.

The Erlacherhof is a town mansion on the Junkerngasse No. 47 in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland, only a few steps away from the Béatrice-von-Wattenwyl-Haus. The Erlacherhof is the most representative patrician town mansion in Bern. It is the only Bernese town mansion in the Old City of Bern that has a courtyard. It is not open to the public.

Bern Minster (German: Berner Münster) is a Swiss Reformed cathedral (or minster) in the old city of Bern, Switzerland. Built in the Gothic style, its construction started in 1421. Its tower, with a height of 100.6 m (330 ft), was only completed in 1893. It is the tallest cathedral in Switzerland and is a Cultural Property of National Significance.

The Junkerngasse ("Nobility Lane") is a street in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It connects the tip of the Aar peninsula (the Nydegg neighbourhood) to the Münster. The Junkerngasse is the Old City's best-preserved street. The riverfront of its palatial houses with their late Baroque façades and extensive garden terraces has been described in an art history guidebook as "one of Europe's most magnificent cityscapes".

The Simsonbrunnen or Samson fountain is a fountain on the Kramgasse in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland. It is a Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old City of Bern.

The Münsterplatz is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the foundation of the old city in 1191. It is located in front of the Cathedral and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.

The Gerechtigkeitsgasse ("Justice Alley") is one of the principal streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. Together with its extension, the Kramgasse, it is the heart of the inner city. Hans Gieng's most famous fountain figure, the statue of Lady Justice on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen, commands the view of the street's gentle slopes and curves.The Gerechtigkeitsgasse and its buildings are a heritage site of national significance and part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.