Bern Historical Museum
The Bern Historical Museum (German: Bernisches Historisches Museum, French: Musée d’Histoire de Berne) is the second largest historical museum in Switzerland. It was designed by the Neuchâtel architect André Lambert and built in 1894. Since it was initially conceived as the Swiss National Museum (which the city of Zurich was later chosen to host), the architect took as his model various historic castles from the 15th and 16th centuries. An extension to the original museum building was completed in 2009.
The Museum entrance on Helvetiaplatz | |
Location within Bern Bern Historical Museum (Canton of Bern) Bern Historical Museum (Switzerland) | |
| Established | 1894 |
|---|---|
| Location | Helvetiaplatz, Bern, Switzerland |
| Coordinates | 46°56′35″N 7°26′57″E |
| Type | History |
| Collection size | 500,000 |
| Director | Jakob Messerli |
| Architect | André Lambert |
| Website | www |
Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance | |
The museum contains collections related to the history of Bern from prehistoric times to the present and other artefacts on permanent display from Asia, Oceania, America and Egypt. One of the most remarkable items in the collection is the Muri statuette group, a group of six Gallo-Roman bronze figurines, and the Moringen arrowhead, determined to be of meteoric origin in 2023 despite being in the collection for well over a century.
The Bern Historical Museum is a heritage site of national significance.
Over the museum's entrance is a glass mosaic, "The Age of History", featuring the figures of Poetry and History, made in 1900 by the Swiss painter Léo-Paul Robert.