Berne

The city of Berne {{IPA|}} (Bernese German Bärn {{IPA|}}, German Bern {{IPA|}}, French Berne {{IPA|}}, Italian Berna {{IPA|}}, Romansh Berna {{IPA|}}), is the "Bundesstadt" (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel).

Geography

Bern lies in the Swiss plateau part of the Canton of Bern, somewhat to the west of the center of Switzerland. The landscape around Bern was formed by glaciers in the last ice age. The two mountains closest to Bern are the Gurten with a height of 858 meters and the Bantiger with a height of 947 meters.

Related Topics:
Swiss plateau - Canton of Bern - Ice age

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The site of the old observatory in Bern is the origin (600 000/200 000) of the CH1903 coordinate system, its international coordinates are {{coor dms|46|57|08.66|N|7|26|22.50|E|region:CH_type:landmark}}.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The city was originally built on a peninsula of the river Aare but outgrew the natural boundaries of the river in the 19th century. The following bridges were built to allow the city to grow outside of the boundaries imposed by the river:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• 1844 Nydeggbrücke
• 1883 Kirchenfeldbrücke
• 1898 Kornhausbrücke

The city is built on very uneven ground. There are several dozens of meters in height difference from the quarters down at the Aare (e.g. Matte, Marzili) to the higher ones (e.g. Kirchenfeld, Längasse).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~