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| 1 | Willy Alexander Bärtschi: Portrait of the film director Franz Schnyder (1910-1993), oil painting, 1990. |
| 2 | Burgdorf ablaze July 21, 1865 was hot, even at night. The upper town was quite suddenly ablaze: flames rose from Schmiedengasse, Beginengässli, Kirchbühl. Bells, drums and horns were ringing all around, calling for help from the fire brigade. People sought shelter in the church, but its tower abruptly caught fire as well. Beams collapsed, walls crumbled, and a shower of sparks ignited four more fires in the lower town. An eyewitness recounted how they were woken up by their mother screaming that Judgement Day had arrived. It was only once the Bernese Fire Brigade arrived by train that the fire was finally put out. 130 families lost their homes. |
| 3 | The fire in the upper town of Burgdorf on 21 July 1865. Lithograph of a drawing by Joseph Nieriker, sold to raise funds for the victims. |
| 4 | Wilhelm Schmid: View from Gsteig to the Staldenbrücke and the Flüh, oil painting, 1946. |
| 5 | Adolf Tièche: The cattle market below the castle when the Wahlen Plan was implemented during World War II, oil painting, 1944. |
| 6 | Daniel Haas: The Rütschelentor seen from the outside, shortly before it was demolished, pencil drawing, 1843. |
| 7 | The interior of the Rütschelentor, shortly before it was demolished, lithograph of a drawing by Daniel Haas, 1843. |
| 8 | Johann Friedrich Wagner: The entrance to the upper town, featuring three buildings designed by the architect Christoph Robert August Roller, lithograph, circa 1844. Middle: the town orphanage of 1835 (now the music school). Left: the Krafft villa of 1835. Right, in the foreground: Hotel “Zum Emmenhof” of 1844 (now the public library). |
| 9 | Johann Friedrich Wagner: Lower town including the Staldenbridge, lithograph, circa 1844. In the foreground on the left is the 1838 slaughterhouse at Metzgergasse (today the Luginbühl Museum). The town planner C.R.A. Roller converted the former hospital into a slaughterhouse. |
| 10 | Rudolf Huber: Panoramic view of Burgdorf, Oberburg and their surroundings, coloured lithograph, 1847. |
| 11 | Retouched Peter Urech painted a watercolour of Burgdorf as seen from the Gyrisberg. Shortly afterwards, Johann Jakob Sperli from Zurich started selling an aquatint print clearly based on Urech’s watercolour. The only difference is that the two figures on the left were omitted. It is likely that the missing figures are Urech and the unsavoury entrepreneur Johann August Sutter, who, in 1833, had placed an advertisement for “a large-scale picture of the town” in the Berner Volksfreund newspaper. Soon after, Sutter went bankrupt and fled to America. Did Sperli then remove him from the picture? |
| 12 | View of Burgdorf from the Gyrisberg, circa 1833. Photo of the watercolour by Peter Urech. The original is owned by the Burgergemeinde Burgdorf. |
| 13 | View of Burgdorf from the Gyrisberg, 1834. Aquatint by Johann Jakob Sperli based on a watercolour by Peter Urech. |
| 14 | Coloured lithographs by Rudolf Huber showing villages in the canton of Bern, 1833-1836. Middle: Burgdorf seen from the Gyrisberg. Side: Burgdorf seen from the Schönebühli, with the new Staldenbrücke in evidence. |
| 15 | Friedrich Walthard: Portrait of the architect Christoph Robert August Roller (1805-1858) from Württemberg, building inspector in Burgdorf from 1831-1843, oil painting, circa 1840. |
| 16 | Plans and cross-sections of the Stalden correction by engineer Johann Rudolf Gatschet, lithograph, 1829. The Stalden, between the lower town and the upper town, impeded traffic in Burgdorf until a bend and bridge were built. |
| 17 | Johann Scheidegger: View of the Stalden after being corrected, coloured outline engraving, circa 1831. |
| 18 | Carl Doerr: Schützenplatz and Flühe, aquatint, circa 1810. |
| 19 | Carl Doerr: The Obere Sägemühle in front of the old market, aquatint, circa 1810. |
| 20 | Franz Anton Leu: Johann Rudolf Aeschlimann-Wagner, entrepreneur and “Salzfaktor” (1758-1847), oil painting, circa 1825. |
| 21 | Niklaus Gatschet: A promenade along the moat in the upper town, with view of the castle, watercolour, circa 1796. |
| 22 | Johann Christoph Buss: View of the former abbey and the town church from Mühlegasse, watercolour, circa 1806. |
| 23 | Carl Doerr: View of the Sickhouse and chapel, aquatint, circa 1810. |
| 24 | Caspar Wyss: Burgdorf from the southeast, with a view of the castle, coloured outline engraving, around 1760/70. |
| 25 | View of the Kirchbühl facing the Hohengasse. Coloured drawing by an unknown artist, mid-18th century. |
| 26 | Johannes Kupferschmid-Schläfli (1691-1750), was the first accredited doctor in Burgdorf. Oil painting attributed to Johann Grimm, 1714. On loan from the Burgdorf Roth Foundation |
| 27 | View of Burgdorf from Taubenflühli. Anonymous oil painting, circa 1720. |
| 28 | Johannes Fankhauser-Rubin (1666-1746), oil painting attributed to Johann Grimm, 1723. Fankhauser made a career out of serving the French. In 1712 he led a Bernese battalion in the second battle of Villmergen and played a part in the Protestant defeat of the Catholics. From 1710 to 1743, Fankhauser was President of the city, responsible for various building projects in Burgdorf, including the new department store. |
| 29 | View of Burgdorf shortly before the Lower Town Fire, 1715. The painter Johann Grimm donated this oil painting to his hometown to decorate the town hall. |
| 30 | The merchant Samuel Fankhauser (1642-1707). Oil painting by an unknown artist, circa 1700. |
| 31 | View of Burgdorf from the south. Oil painting, artist unknown, circa 1700. |
| 32 | View of the town from the south. Oil painting, artist unknown, based on a 1685 engraving by Johannes Ulrich Kraus, ca. 1710. |
| 33 | A peasant army at the gates of Bern Being a peasant in the seventeenth century was not easy. Bern had introduced new taxes and devalued the batz. The countryside was a hotbed of activity, and in Huttwil the peasants agreed to form an alliance. In May 1653, the Emmentaler Niklaus Leuenberger led an army of hundreds of peasants to the gates of Bern. The rural population wanted more rights. Bern called in its allied troops, forcing the rebels to accept a compromise. The government violated the peace treaty and launched a brutal attack on its vassals. Niklaus Leuenberger was imprisoned in Burgdorf Castle to await his execution in Bern. |
| 34 | Peter Aubry: The peasant leader Niklaus Leuenberger (1615-1653), copperplate engraving, 17th century. |
| 35 | Matthäus Merian: View of Burgdorf from the north, copperplate engraving from the “Topographia Helvetiae”, 1642. |
| 36 | Sheet metal weather vane bearing the Burgdorf coat of arms. This weather vane stood on the Schaltor in the upper town from 1654 to 1843. |
| 37 | Johannes Stumpf: First realistic view of Burgdorf, woodcut from the Swiss chronicles, 1547. |
| 38 | Women live for longer In 1263, Hartmann V of Kyburg was killed in an accident. His widow, Elisabeth de Châlons, gave birth to a son who died soon afterwards. The male line of the dynasty of the Counts of Kyburg came to an end. Anna, a daughter, was married off to Eberhard of Habsburg-Laufenburg. The couple established the dynasty of Neu-Kyburg, based on Anna’s family name, and in 1273 granted Burgdorf the oldest surviving charter of rights. Anna’s mother had already granted the town several privileges. Elisabeth retired to a convent in Freiburg. Her tombstone is the first stone in Switzerland to show a portrait of the deceased. |
| 39 | Elisabeth of Châlons’ gravestone. She was the wife of Hartmann V. Count of Kyburg, circa 1275 (plaster cast). |