The Erlacherhof is a town mansion on the

Junkerngasse 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 of Bern, Münster. The Junkerngasse ...

No. 47 in the

Old City of Bern The Old City (german: Altstadt) is the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. Built on a narrow hill bordered on three sides by the river Aare, its compact layout has remained essentially unchanged since its construction during the twelfth ...

, 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.

History

The Erlacherhof was built between 1745 and 1752 after the plans of the Bernese architect Albrecht Stürler for the Bernese

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

Hieronymus von Erlach in place of two older houses of which one was the old town house of the von Erlach family. The other house belonged once to the family of

Adrian von Bubenberg Adrian von Bubenberg (born c. 1424 in Bern; died August 1479 in Bern) was a Bernese knight, military commander and mayor ('' Schultheiss'') of Bern in 1468-1469, 1473-1474 and 1477-1479. In Switzerland, he is remembered as the hero of the 1476 Bat ...

. In 1748, both the owner and the architect died before the mansion was completed. It was the son of Hieronymus von Erlach, Albrecht Friedrich von Erlach, who gave order to complete the mansion, most probably with the help of the sculptor

Johann August Nahl Johann August Nahl (22 August 1710 in Berlin – 22 October 1781 in Kassel) was a German sculptor and plasterer. He was first taught by his father Johann Samuel Nahl (1664–1727), who had been court sculptor of Frederic I since 1704. ...

. In honour of his father, Albrecht Friedrich von Erlach decorated the pediments of the east and west wing courtyard façades with the crowned monogram of his father "HvE", Hieronymus von Erlach. In 1795, the mansion was bought by the butcher Albrecht Hegi and the merchant David Rudolf Bay. After the decline of the

Ancien Régime of Switzerland The early modern period, early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy (''Eidgenossenschaft'', also known as the "Swiss Republic" or ''Republica Helvetiorum'') and its constituent Thirteen Cantons encompasses the time of the Thirty Years' W ...

and the French invasion of Bern, the Erlacherhof became the seat of the French general

Guillaume Brune Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune, 1st Count Brune (, 13 March 1764 – 2 August 1815) was a French military commander, Marshal of the Empire, and political figure who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Early life Bru ...

in 1798. Afterwards, the Erlacherhof was used as a school building before it became the French Embassy in 1831. From 1848 until 1857, the mansion was the first official seat of the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governme ...

. Today, the Erlacherhof and its terraced garden are restored to their former glory. The mansion is now the official seat of the mayor of Bern and his administration.

External links

Pictures and further information about the Erlacherhof on the website of the city of Bern

Literature

* Ueli Bellwald (Hrsg.): ''Der Erlacherhof in Bern - Baugeschichte, Restaurierung, Rundgang'', Bern 1980 {{coord, 46, 56, 51, N, 7, 27, 13, E, region:CH_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Buildings and structures in Bern Old City (Bern) Erlach family