Bern, Switzerland’s “federal city”

A country without a centre

Until 1798 the old Swiss Confederation had no capital. Its cantons sent envoys twice a year to a meeting called the Tagsatzung, or Diet, which from 1712 met in the country towns of Baden and Frauenfeld.^[1]

The French invasion of 1798 brought a centralised Helvetic Republic on the French model, and with it a capital: Aarau, for four months, then Lucerne, then Bern.^[1] From 1803 the seat rotated among six cities, and from 1815 among Zurich, Bern and Lucerne, two years each.^[1]

Choosing Bern

A draft constitution in 1832 would have made Lucerne a true capital, but federalists and radical centralists both blocked it.^[3] The constitution of 1848 left the “seat of the federal authorities” to ordinary law, deliberately leaving the capital question to parliament.^[3][1]

On 27 November 1848 the two chambers agreed to end the rotation. The vote came the next day, 28 November. In the first round, 58 members of the National Council and 21 of the Council of States chose Bern; Zurich got 35 and 13, and Lucerne 6 and 3.^[3] A few votes even went to small towns such as Aarau and Zofingen, a sign of the feeling that no big cantonal capital should house the national government.^[1]

Zurich was the economic powerhouse, and Lucerne had fought against the new federal state. Bern offered a central location, the support of the French-speaking cantons, and the land for federal buildings for free.^[2] As a balance, Zurich was promised the new federal polytechnic, and Lucerne another federal institution.^[3]

A city that paid for the honour

Being the seat was a cost as much as a prize. Bern had to provide buildings for the government, parliament and administration, and on 18 December 1848 its citizens accepted the honour by only 419 votes to 313. On 27 December the Federal Assembly definitively named Bern the seat of government.^[1]

The Federal Palace, today’s west wing of the Bundeshaus, was finished in 1857 for two million francs, paid for with loans and a special tax. In 1874 the city bought its way out of further obligations for 500,000 francs and handed the building to the Confederation.^[1]

Still not a capital

Even the title “federal city” isn’t in the 1999 constitution.^[1] Two laws do the work instead: the Parliament Act says the Federal Assembly meets in Bern, and the Government and Administration Organisation Act makes Bern the official seat of the Federal Council, the ministries and the Federal Chancellery.^[2]

Other federal bodies were spread around on purpose. The Federal Supreme Court went to Lausanne in 1874, and the Federal Criminal Court has sat in Bellinzona since 2004.^[1] Bern itself is only the fourth- or fifth-largest Swiss city, depending on the count, well behind Zurich, Geneva and Basel.^[1][2]