| No | English text |
| 0 | Rural delights Life off the beaten track A small town like Burgdorf can be as soothing as it can be stifling – but that can be an inspiration in itself. The following are six men who lived off the beaten track. Burgdorf, and indeed the world, is much the richer for their presence – though they also provoked their share of irritation. And where are the women? This question will be addressed in one of the next temporary exhibitions. |
| 1 | A colourful individual Hans Rudolf Grimm, storyteller, 1665-1749 Grimm was born into a noble family in Burgdorf. A bookbinder by trade, he spent his journeyman years travelling, going as far as the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Upon his return to Burgdorf, he worked as a painter, trumpeter and trombonist, before opening a tavern in the upper town. There, in his “story tavern”, he sang songs and told tales. These were often local folk tales, which he collected and published. But Grimm was not a particularly pleasant man. His tavern was closed down by the authorities because of his constant quarrels with his wife. He was appointed to an official position, but was then disgraced and dismissed, accused of embezzling public funds. However, his “Schweitzer Cronica” is still an entertaining work, despite its many inventions and exaggerations.Behind the stove is the one Listening as tales are spun From faraway lands he never visits To be a monkey has its limits Excerpt from “The Little Book of Verses and Aphorisms” by Hans Rudolf Grimm, 1744 |
| 2 | Hans Rudolf Grimm (1665-1749). Drawing taken from a chronicle of 1723. |
| 3 | Noble champions and the blood of a dragon In ancient times, the knights Sintram and Bertram went hunting. At the Gysnauflühen, the cliffs above the river Emme, a monster attacked and devoured Bertram. Sintram took up the fight – his dogs attacked the tail of the dragon, while the knight struck at its head with his sword. Once the belly of the creature was cut open, Bertram came out, unharmed. The knights built their castle on the hill above the town and became the lords of Burgdorf. Grimm tells us this tale in his 1732 Ballad of the Dragon. But the legend of how the castle of Burgdorf was founded is much older, and has been told for at least 800 years. Grimm saw it with his own eyes as a child – a mural showing the battle against the dragon was painted in the old market in Burgdorf. When the market hall was demolished, Grimm had the mural copied onto a wall in his tavern, where it provided a convincing accompaniment to his ballad. Such efforts to preserve an old painting also make him something of a pioneer in the field of heritage protection! |
| 4 | Matthias Egger: “The Dragon of Hans Rudolf Grimm”, 2020. The painting in Grimm’s tavern no longer exists. The artist Matthias Egger has reinterpreted the legend for the Burgdorf Castle Museum. |
| 5 | Hans Rudolf Grimm: “Little Swiss Chronicle, or the Book of Tales”, 1723. Collection of the Knights’ Hall AssociationWhen I write books for rural folk Time disappears like wayward smoke An author’s mantle is a fine cloak For such pride in me it does evoke If farmers must plough I must sell And indeed hope that I do well For like the lords who in castles dwell The urge to know and hear does compel Rural folk to find out the news Which I can share if they so choose To buy this “chronicle” and peruse Instead of spending their money on booze. Advertising slogan for the sale of the “Schweitzer Cronica” by Hans Rudolf Grimm. |
| 6 | Hans Rudolf Grimm: “A Great Mishmash and 197 Other Opinions, Stories and Verses”. |
| 7 | A quest Hans Morgenthaler, writer, 1890-1928 Morgenthaler was looking for his personal paradise – and he paid for it with his life. The son of the mayor of Burgdorf, he studied botany and geology and later joined the Alpine Club. In 1911, he almost lost all his fingers to frostbite when climbing the Tödi mountain. In 1917, a Swiss company sent him to the jungle in Thailand in search of new raw materials. He caught malaria and returned home sick. On his return, he contracted tuberculosis and suffered from severe depression. It was during these years of illness that “Hamo” wrote his many novels and poems.Last will and testament I die happy! With a pretty face so madly in love! A man so much in love cannot fail to lose himself completely! Poem by Hans Morgenthaler from “Hamo, the Last Pious European”, edited by Roger Perret, 1982. |
| 8 | Hans Morgenthaler’s first book: “You, the Mountains. Impressions of a Mountaineer’s Diary”, Zurich, 1916. |
| 9 | Hans Morgenthaler “In the Air”. Place and date unknown. Excerpt from “You, the Mountains”. |
| 10 | Hans Morgenthaler: “Matahari. Impressions from the Malaysian-Siamese Jungle”, Zurich 1921.
Happy days in the jungle |
| 11 | Hans Morgenthaler: pen drawing of Buddhist temple designs in Siam. From “Matahari” |
| 12 | Hans Morgenthaler in Siam (Thailand), 1919. Morgenthaler wrote on the photo “Our daily bread”. From “Matahari” |
| 13 | Drawing taken from the anthology of poems “Ich selbst. Gefühle” by Hans Morgenthaler, Zurich, 1923. |
| 14 | Never-ending The Tunnel, a short story by Friedrich Dürrenmatt The young “Fritz” Dürrenmatt didn’t quite know what he wanted from life. The son of a priest from Konolfingen, he studied philosophy and literature in Bern and Zurich, and then tried his hand at painting and writing. The Gyrisberg tunnel near Burgdorf, which he often travelled through on his way to university, inspired one of his first short stories, The Tunnel. The journey through the tunnel, so short that the student hardly noticed it before, suddenly becomes never-ending. The train relentlessly accelerates, going at full speed; the tracks start to twist towards the centre of the earth. The short story ends on a bleak note: “What shall we do? ” “Nothing.” |
| 15 | Friedrich Dürrenmatt, late 1940s. Photo: Bernhard Wicki, Swiss Literary Archives |
| 16 | Excerpt from the text “The Tunnel” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, read by Maria Becker (17 min.). Deutsche Grammophon, 2003 |
| 17 | Friedrich Dürrenmatt: “The Tunnel”, Zurich, 1952. |
| 18 | Detours The only tunnel on the old Olten-Bern railway line was not really necessary – the line could have been routed through Kirchberg. But this was not popular with the influential citizens of Burgdorf, who lobbied the directors of the Centralbahn to run the train through their town. This caused some difficulties for the Centralbahn, as the mountain between Wynigen and Burgdorf mainly consists of loose, sandy rubble and is thus prone to cave-ins. A worker died during the tunnel’s construction in 1855, when a scaffold collapsed. The tunnel itself has not (yet) caved in. Only once did it start to curve in a curious way – never to stop again… |
| 19 | Longitudinal cross-section of the Gyrisberg tunnel and the Emme bridge (reproduction), 1924. In 1924, the route was electrified. In order to create space for the power lines, the tracks were lowered. SBB Historic |
| 20 | SBB timetable for the Bern – Olten route, summer 1945 (reproduction). As a young student, Friedrich Dürrenmatt regularly travelled between Bern and Zurich. SBB Historic |
| 21 | SBB wagon from the 1940s Archives Museum of Transport Lucerne |
| 22 | Non-conformist Sergius Golowin, writer, 1930-2006 In the 1950s and 1960s, a group of authors in Bern called themselves “non-conformists”. They wanted to shake up what they considered to be overly rigid cultural structures. The writer Sergius Golowin was one of these ‘non-conformists’. From 1957 to 1968, he was in charge of the public library in Burgdorf. There he organised weekly readings and presentations, with a particular interest in folk legends, ghost stories and the lives of people on the fringes of society. The Burgdorf establishment rejected him, but Golowin opened up a whole new world for the local teenagers, many of whom who found small town life a little too restricting. |
| 23 | Sergius Golowin, 1964. Sergius Golowin Archives, Bern |
| 24 | Kindred spirits As a town librarian, Golowin discovered many things. One day, he came across the writings of Hans Rudolf Grimm, the jack-of-all-trades of the 18th century, who was interested in the daily life of ordinary people and who often offended “those at the top”. Golowin discovered in Grimm a kindred spirit, a non-conformist before his time! Together with the publisher René Simmen, Golowin republished Grimm’s texts under the title “The Great Mishmash “. Pole Lehmann illustrated the book.Even the smallest of human communities is a mirror of every question in the world. So I cheerfully set out to discover the whole world without ever setting a foot out of Burgdorf. Sergius Golowin in the local newspaper “Burgdorfer Tagblatt”, 1973. |
| 25 | Books by Sergius Golowin from his days as town librarian in Burgdorf. |
| 26 | In 1957, Sergius Golowin became the town librarian in Burgdorf. In 1968 he resigned and left the town. During his eleven years of employment, his cultural and political activism made him a writer and “non-conformist” known throughout Switzerland. |
| 27 | The programme of events known as “The Burgdorf Encounters” already existed before Golowin’s arrival, but it was he who made them into a major public platform of debate. They are not limited to literary and regional topics, but regularly address more controversial societal issues as well. |
| 28 | Inspired by Sergius Golowin’s cultural activism, the school student Martin Schwander and his “Group 67 ” organised readings in the public library. In 1967 he arranged for Guido Bachmann to read his novel “Gilgamesch”, then classified as pornographic because of its homosexual eroticism. The reading sparked the “Burgdorf literary scandal” and Martin Schwander was expelled from his school. But when celebrities such as Max Frisch took up his cause and the Blick newspaper asked: “Is Burgdorf a stronghold of philistines?” the school was ultimately persuaded to take him back. |
| 29 | In the autumn of 1966, Bernese artists met on Lueg Hill for a wild happening. Among the participants were the artist Meret Oppenheim, the sculptor Bernhard Luginbühl, the curator Harald Szeemann, the artist Lilly Keller and the photographer Leonardo Bezzola, who documented the event. Golowin also took part. |
| 30 | Savoir vivre Bruno Bandi, the life of an artist, 1935-1996 There is not much left of the expressive and colourful work of the Burgdorf artist Bandi. He had a wide range of occupations: ship’s cook, vegetable specialist, ice hockey player, strawberry seller, secretary, olive oil merchant, travel guide, kitchen assistant and was even the top trout killer at the Löwen restaurant in Heimiswil… And it is said that he introduced both the game of boules and the alcoholic drink pastis to Burgdorf.“He lived – ferociously.” Friends on Bruno Bandi. |
| 31 | Bruno Bandi, photo circa 1980. Susanne Kindler Archives, Bern |
| 32 | From left to right: Bruno Bandi, untitled, 1978. Bruno Bandi, untitled, 1983. Bruno Bandi, untitled. Lithography, 1974. Bruno Bandi, untitled, 1974. On loan from Susanne Kindler, Bern / City of Burgdorf |
| 33 | The sorrows of Stefan Zdevan Qumr, artist, 1963-2013 “Zdevan” could be Serbo-Croatian, “Qumr” Arabic. The artist’s real name is Stefan Kummer (“sorrow” in German). His art studies took him to Biel and Barcelona; it was in Biel that he finally found his place as an artist. Painting is like dancing, according to Zdevan Qumr. He withdrew from the world, often suffering from loneliness; describing the “demons” that beset him. He struggled to communicate with others, until he finally found a voice through his art, writing and music.When I look at the past, it is clear to me that more and more people now seem to reduce the principle of existence to the numbers zero and one. Zdevan Qumr (Notes on inheritance) |
| 34 | Zdevan Qumr, 1987. Photo Mischa Dickerhof |
| 35 | From left to right: Zdevan Qumr: Grincer / Recinar, 2005. Zdevan Qumr: Untitled (visual installation in 9 parts), 1993. Zdevan Qumr: Radiation circulaire / Radiación cirular / jolimai 12, 2012. Zdevan Qumr: four notes on inheritance. On loan from Susanne and Heinz Kummer, Burgdorf |