Story
The story of Federal Palace of Switzerland
You are looking at the seat of the Swiss government and parliament, a symmetrical complex just over 300 metres long. Here is a surprise: to this day Switzerland has no de jure capital.
When the federal constitution took effect on September 12, 1848, the question of where to put the nation's capital was left open, and on 28 November the Federal Assembly voted for Bern as the federal city. At first there was no suitable building, so the councils met in makeshift places, including a music hall known as the casino.
The west wing was built from 1852 to 1857 and united administration, government and parliament under one roof. The east wing followed from 1884 to 1892, and the domed parliament building in the centre rose between 1894 and 1902. Its facades are of Bernese sandstone, the greenish-grey stone of the old town, so even this large building blends into the cityscape.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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