Initial position was the first seat of the Federal Council ) The modern Swiss
federal state came into being when the
federal constitution became effective on September 12, 1848, but the location of the nation's capital remained unresolved. On 28 November, the Federal Assembly voted in favor of Bern as the federal city and the seat of the federal authorities (however, to this day, Switzerland has no
de jure capital). Provisional solutions were necessary as there was no suitable central building to accommodate the government, parliament and
federal administration. The Federal Council convened in the
Erlacherhof; the National Council operated at an 1821-built music hall known as the "casino" and if necessary the
Bern town hall; while the
Council of States met in the . The federal court and administration moved into various buildings in the Old City. The '''' was a public corporation representing the city's citizens and the powerful , and thus the superior municipality during the period. With a narrow majority, their assembly accepted the election of Bern as the federal city. However, it also transferred responsibility for the construction of the parliament and government building to the municipality, which had been formed only 15 years previously. The federal government lacked the authority to construct its own buildings, but this decision accelerated the political disempowerment of the civic community by liberal forces. This process was completed in 1852 with the transfer of autonomy to the '''' and the separation of property (division of assets). In February 1849, the Federal Council commissioned the city authorities to survey suitable locations for a central building. The building was to accommodate the halls of both chambers of parliament, rooms for the Federal Council, 96 offices and the
chancellor's apartment. Based on several suggestions, the Federal Council decided in favor of the area of the municipal timber yard next to the "casino", on the southern edge of the Old City and on the upper edge of the slope down to the
Aare river. An
architectural competition hosted by the
municipal council began on 8 April 1850 for the Federal Town Hall. In a desire to avoid burdening Bern's citizens with extra loans and special taxes, the tender was deliberately thrifty and focused on cost savings. The proposed building was to be dignified but still as functional and simple as possible. Competitors were asked to avoid "useless splendor and exaggerated dimensions" and to use Bernese sandstone since the "surroundings of Bern have a wealth of the best and most beautiful sandstone".
Modest beginnings: West wing The official jury consisted of the architects Melchior Berri, Ludwig Friedrich Osterrieth, Robert Roller and , as well as the building inspector Bernhard Wyss. Out of 37 submitted designs, that of
Ferdinand Stadler emerged victorious. The jury awarded three further prizes: second place went to , third to Johann Carl Dähler, and fourth to Jean Franel. A special jury appointed by the
Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA), but which had no influence on the project, judged the three first-place designs in reverse order of precedence. The losing competitors were assigned the central wing to the council chambers and the side wings to the administration. Dähler and Franel designed the larger National Council chamber in the form of an
amphitheater. While Dähler had it protrude from the building as a roof crown, Franel planned a semicircular bulge in the facade. Kubly recognized that, unlike previous new European parliament buildings, two equal councils had to be considered and therefore abandoned the overly dominant semicircle in favor of two rectangular halls. A common theme in all three projects was the placement of both halls on the central axis, which led to unfavorable proportions of the central tract. Stadler, on the other hand, was able to convince a horseshoe-shaped layout. He allocated the central wing to the Federal Council and the administration and relegated the parliamentary chambers to the projecting side wings. In addition, he oriented himself stylistically not to
classicism, but to the novel
round-arched style of
neo-Romanesque architecture. He used the buildings on
Ludwigstrasse in
Munich, in particular the
Bavarian State Library, as a model. Some critics disliked the staggering of the building and the continuous round arches. Stadler was put off by the objections and revised his design, adding classical elements. The revised design, however, met with even less approval. On 23 June 1851, the Bern City Council decided to commission the master builder to prepare a new design. Studer, who had not participated in the competition, adopted Stadler's original design and reintroduced the staggering while strengthening the round-arched style instead of toning it down. The revision found favor and Studer was awarded the building contract. After the terrace had been filled in, the foundation stone was laid on 21 September 1852. The ceremonial handover took place on 5 June 1857 following five years of construction. In 1858, the was erected in the ''
cour d'honneur'' of the Federal Town Hall, and a statue added five years later. The decorations in the council chambers were very sparse due to cost constraints. and his brother Ludwig painted four
allegorical murals in the National Council Chamber and added ornamental designs. In 1861, the cantons donated
coat-of-arms panels for the Council of States Hall, but these were removed just ten years later due to unfavorable lighting conditions. A commission headed by Federal Councillor
Jakob Dubs proposed transforming the Federal Council Chamber into a national museum which would exhibit historical paintings and busts of famous Swiss personalities. The Council of States approved this proposal in 1865, but the National Council rejected it twice in 1866. The building owner, the city of Bern, placed far greater value on properly functioning
building services than on ostentation.
Steam heating from
Sulzer guaranteed warmth in all rooms even in winter. Of particular note in the otherwise sober building were the candelabras lit by
gas lighting. The municipal gasworks was located below the Bundesterrasse from 1841 to 1876 and thus in the immediate vicinity. A project by
Frank Buchser did not come to fruition: the victory of the
Northern states in the
American Civil War had triggered a wave of sympathy rallies in Switzerland. At the end of 1865, Buchser planned a mural in the National Council Chamber depicting the most important American personalities of the time, which was intended to express Switzerland's solidarity with the United States. Although he was able to produce portraits of numerous prominent people during his four-year stay in America, General
Ulysses S. Grant refused to appear in the group portrait because his opponent
Robert E. Lee was also to be depicted, and it was not done.
Lack of space: East wing The
1874 Swiss constitutional referendum approved a new constitution which came into effect on 29 May 1874, resulting in a marked devolution of power from the cantons to the Confederation. The rapidly-growing federal administration soon complained of an acute shortage of space. The Federal Council asked the city to provide sufficient working space for the numerous new federal offices but Bern was unable meet this demand. In 1876, the city therefore ceded the Federal Town Hall and the responsibility for extensions and new buildings to the Confederation. In 1861, the third floor of the central wing was opened to the Bernese Art Society. The transfer of its collection to the new
Museum of Fine Arts in 1879 only temporarily alleviated the lack of space. The federal government acquired west of the Hotel Bernerhof for a building site in 1876. It announced a competition for an administrative building to be used by the military, railroad and trade departments. Only a year later however, the project was abandoned; the stands on the site today. In 1880, the federal government purchased the
Inselspital building, which was separated from the Federal Town Hall by the casino. The initial plan was to rebuild the it, but the National Council demanded a new building. The Federal Superintendent of Buildings decided instead to erect a parliament building between the new building and the existing Federal Town Hall (i.e. instead of the casino) in a second stage. In accordance with this intention, the Confederation announced an architectural competition on 23 February 1885, with Louis Bezencenet, James Édouard Collin, , Heinrich Viktor von Segesser, and Arnold Geiser, as well as Arnold Flückiger, adjunct of the Superintendent of Buildings, serving as judges. Of 36 designs submitted, the one by
Alfred Friedrich Bluntschli won first prize and
Hans Wilhelm Auer second. Bluntschli weighted the architecture according to the task of the buildings. In this respect, the new Federal Palace East was to be a compact, modest administrative wing and the parliament building was to have the form of a strictly classical
Greek round temple. Auer, on the other hand, did not adopt a hierarchical structure. He designed a symmetrical building complex that included the Federal Town Hall as the west wing. For the east wing he adopted its round-arched style, while for the main building he envisaged the
neo-Renaissance style. In accordance with the prevailing
architectural theory of the time, which was largely influenced by
Gottfried Semper, the jury criticized Auer's symmetry as functionally incomprehensible. The dome was the subject of particular criticism as it was not situated above a dignified council chamber but above a 'profane' staircase. Auer had taken his cue from the
United States Capitol, arguing that the dome crowns Parliament as a whole and does not favor either council. Auer created a Swiss
national monument with a rich and symbolic iconography depicting the history, constitutional foundations, and activities of the country's inhabitants. Over the course of time, the use of space in the parliament building was repeatedly adapted to changing, often short-term needs. In addition to necessary technical improvements, however, remodeling works were carried out in the 1960s. In numerous rooms, vaults, ceilings and wall partitions were covered up or demolished. Coloured wallpaper was painted over with white paint and
stucco replaced with
plasterboard. In 1965, the
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation began operating radio and television transmissions on the third floor above the Council of States hall, which required the installation of a massive, wide-span concrete ceiling. Since the attic spaces were also being used increasingly intensively, it seemed appropriate to wall up the
lunette windows facing the domed hall. As a result, natural light no longer entered, giving the hall a gloomy appearance.
Restorations and renovations In 1991, the National Council commission charged with drafting parliamentary reform decided to examine a far-reaching expansion of the parliament's premises. In a project competition,
Mario Botta's proposal for an extension in the form of a citadel-like structure on the slope below the parliament building prevailed. Massive historic preservation and urban planning concerns were however raised against the project, and it was abandoned by the National Council on 17 March 1993 at the request of the Parliamentary Reform Commission, on the grounds of the federal government's poor financial situation. Later that year, the National Council Chamber underwent extensive restoration for the first time since its inauguration. For this reason, the Councillors held a session outside Bern for the first time ever in
Geneva. In 1999, at the suggestion of Council of States member
Dick Marty, the Federal Assembly decided to hold the 2001 spring session in
Lugano. This made it possible to restore the Hall of the Council of States as well. The differing demands of parliamentarians, media and the administration using the Federal Palace led to ever greater organizational problems. Parliamentarians complained about the lack of rooms for meetings and secretariats, and that their individual workplaces were located too far away from the council chambers on the top floor of the Federal Palace East. A complete renovation of the building services was put on the agenda. The renovation was aimed should satisfy the needs of the members of the council, and reinforce the architectural and artistic concepts of Hans Wilhelm Auer. The first stage was the relocation of the workplaces of the media representatives. To this end, a new media center was built between October 2003 and May 2006 in the buildings at Bundesgasse 8-12 (located opposite the Federal Palace West); the construction and equipping costs amounted to 42.5 million francs. Work on Federal Palace West began in February 2005 and lasted just over three years. The main focus was on renovating the facade and the roof. New workspaces were also added, the attic converted, and various security and fire protection measures improved. The National Council and the Council of States approved 83 million Swiss francs for this as part of the 2004 and 2006 civil construction programs. In June 2006, the first comprehensive renovation and restoration of the parliament building began under the direction of the architectural firm Aebi & Vincent. Taking inflation and various additional costs, the final cost was 103 million Swiss francs. On the third floor, workrooms for parliamentarians, meeting rooms for parliamentary groups and a multifunctional conference hall were created. The lunette windows (lit in the back by
skylights) were also opened, interior walls cleaned, cracks repaired, and recent furnishings removed, transforming the domed hall once again into a bright daylight space. Extended spiral staircases and new elevators improved vertical access. A new visitors' entrance was built under the National Council Chamber, and a new technical floor with an IT room was constructed below. In general, the principle was to remove modern fixtures and emphasise the original furnishings. The building exterior was extensively renovated, including the sandstone facades, the cornices and figures, the roof and domes, the skylights, and the lighting. In the National Council Chamber, the building services, the voting system, the translation system and the surfaces were renewed. During the most intensive renovation phase, the National Council and the Council of States held their 2006 autumn session in
Flims. The official inauguration of the renovated parliament building took place on 21 November 2008 with a ceremony. During the renovations, construction workers uncovered the vaulted cellars of the former
Inselspital in the fall of 2012. These massive rooms, made of large sandstone blocks, once stored the natural resources used to finance the hospital and care for its patients. In the summer of 2019, the visitor entrance at the Bundesterrasse side was rebuilt due to security considerations. ==Parliament building==