It is one of the curiosities of the federal city which intrigues everyone in Bern. The Federal Palace does not have the honors of No. 1 on the Federal Square. This prestigious address is featured by… the Swiss National Bank.
In the aisles of Parliament, few elected officials know the postal address of the Federal Palace. “Somewhere on the Bundesplatz?” guesses Green National Councilor Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini. “At No. 1?” ventures his liberal colleague Nadine Gobet.
To the great dismay of parliamentarians, however, it is the Bern headquarters of the Swiss National Bank which displays the number 1. “Symbolically, this says a lot about the role of finance in Switzerland”, comments Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini.
An earlier Palace
A Bernese curiosity… Especially since the Palace of Parliament was inaugurated in 1902, a few years before the creation of the Swiss National Bank, in 1905. Inaugurated in 1912, the building of the issuing institute even seen its dimensions be revised downwards so that they do not overshadow the east wing of the Federal Palace.
Jean-Daniel Gross, who is responsible for the protection of built heritage for the City of Bern, is also unaware of the origin of the numbering. He guesses technical reasons linked to a place which was created “by happy coincidence”.
The Federal Square “was not planned for a long time. We had the opportunity to do it when we saw that it was taking shape,” he adds. It was first with the museum building, then with the Federal Palace, “that the idea of the main square was conceived”.
The financial center on the Federal Place
A large square where the banks are crowded. In addition to the National Bank, there are still Credit Suisse at number 2, the Valiant bank at number 4 and the Bernese Cantonal Bank at number 8. The Parliament is in fact the only building on the square which is not a bank.
“We can interpret that the financial institutes sought proximity to politics. But it is perhaps simpler. It is a place created late and which offered representative and highly sought-after land. It is quite logical that there are institutes that had the means to finance them,” explains Jean-Daniel Gross.
Island Lane
Why do two banks still have postal precedence over the Palace of Parliament today? The City of Berne surveyor was also unaware of this. But, piqued by our question, Christine Früh went through the municipal archives which reveal the long history of the address of the Federal Palace. The building spent most of its existence not on the square, but on the street.
When the authorization to build it was issued, “the square did not yet exist, it was going to be built. There was the street that ran in front of it, and, in 1894, it was still called Inselgasse,” explains Christine Früh . The Federal Palace therefore humbly took over the address of the building it replaced, 15 Inselgasse – the “Island Lane” in French.
And the Federal Square was
A few years later, a building that stood on the large square in front of the Palace was destroyed, an area which was then named “Federal Square”. And the first building to be erected there, in 1909, was none other than the Swiss National Bank.
“Why at that time, no one had the idea of placing the Parliament, which already existed, at No. 1, Federal Place, I cannot say. We do not know, ” smiles the municipal surveyor. “I imagine the Parliament building was so well known that the address didn’t matter. The fire brigade didn’t need the address, neither did the ambulances or the Post Office. For the mail, all you had to do was write ‘Palais federal’ and the Post Office knew where to deliver it.”
Four addresses
The Parliament even changed its address several times, with Inselgasse becoming Theodor-Kochergasse and then Kochergasse, its current name. But the story doesn’t end there.
At the beginning of the 1970s, Bernese municipal regulations changed and now required buildings to display their number on the facade. “That’s when someone had the idea of addressing Parliament on the square,” supposes Christine Früh. No. 1 having already been occupied for 60 years and No. 2 for 50 years, a number 3 will be mounted in 1972 on the facade of the Palace.
A possible exchange
Today, a number exchange is “technically feasible”, “the City of Bern would not object to it”, specifies the surveyor. It would still be necessary for the Confederation and the National Bank to agree and for the SNB to agree to sell its prestigious No. 1, which it has displayed for 115 years.
“I think that, symbolically, it would be good for the Federal Palace to be at number 1,” said Friborg national councilor Nadine Gobet. Geneva’s Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini agrees: “I believe that the Federal Palace should have the central place. Even if it does, in fact.”
TV topic: Michael Maccabez
Adaptation web: Julien Furrer
