Grand Council BE The large mural in Bern City Hall remains untouched
The Bernese Grand Council does not want to touch the large painting in its hall. The GLP wanted to repurpose the area of the painting - but everything remains the same.
10.09.2024, 11:32
SDA
The mural in the field of vision of the cantonal parliament and the visitors in the gallery is too gloomy, Bern should look to the future with more optimism, demanded motion author Thomas Brönnimann (GLP) on Tuesday. In doing so, he launched an atypical debate for the Grand Council. Atypical due to the subject matter, but also because it remained unusually quiet in the chamber during the speeches.
Brönnimann wanted the surface of the mural to be used "multifunctionally" in future, for example for projections of the content discussed by the Council. Or for "contemporary art on buildings". To this end, he called for a competition to be held.
The mural dates back to 1942, when the town hall, which is now a listed building, was redesigned. It was painted by Karl Walser, brother of the writer Robert Walser. It shows muscular men, surrounded by large stones, building the city of Bern. A bear looks around the building site, while a woman with two children stands at the very edge. The painting is predominantly in shades of brown and rather gloomy, "not inspiring" and "depressing", as Brönnimann found.
The question of importance
Art changes a lot over time, which is why the topic is "enormously important", affirmed co-motivator Beat Cattaruzza (GLP), carrying a large imitation stone on his shoulders in front of the lectern. Karin Fisli from the SP parliamentary group took a slightly different view. "Art is a matter of taste. We are not elected to discuss pictures." There are much more important things.
The Council would not be able to agree on what constitutes art anyway, said Dominik Blatti (EDU). Tabea Bossard-Jenni (EVP) asked rhetorically whether there were no more existential problems.
"If one argument against our debate is that there are more important things - then that would apply to some of the discussions here," Hannes Zaugg-Graf (GLP) addressed his colleagues.
Claudine Esseiva (FDP) said that she would like to talk about things that would make a difference again soon, but also commented on the picture. Although it was out of date, it still bore witness to the times. "I don't like the picture," said Sibyl Eigenmann (center). "But let's leave this old house alone for a while and concentrate on the essentials."
Memorial against fascism or wokeism?
There was no support for the GLP from the Greens either. "The picture is a statement against fascism," said Regula Bühlmann. However, her party would want to keep it even without monument protection. In any case, art on buildings is a luxury as long as the town hall is not barrier-free. Samuel Krähenbühl (SVP) described the painting as "a memorial against wokeism". He enjoyed looking at it every morning.
In line with the course of the discussion, parliament rejected the two requests from the ranks of the GLP with a resounding majority. There was a little more agreement on the question of whether the town hall should be operated in a CO2-neutral manner in future, but this third request in the motion was ultimately also rejected. This surprised him somewhat, said motion author Brönnimann at the end. "The Grand Council is constantly enraged by the preservation of historical monuments - and is now arguing exactly the same thing itself."
The Grand Council then went on to discuss barrier-free charging stations for electric cars, parking spaces for people with mobility impairments and public transport fares. Always in view: the mural entitled "Bern at work".
