{{Short description|Street in Bern, Switzerland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox street | name = Junkerngasse | native_name = | image = Bern Junkerngasse.PNG | caption = Old City of Bern with Junkerngasse highlighted | former_names = Kirchgasse <br> Edle Gasse | postal_code = 3011 | length_m = 300 | width = | location = Old City of Bern, Bern, Switzerland | coordinates = {{coord|46.9479|7.4543|}} | commissioning_date = | construction_start_date = 1191 | completion_date = | inauguration_date = | demolition_date = }} [[File:The cathedral- Das Münster.JPG|thumb|The Junkerngasse, looking north towards the Münster.]]
The '''Junkerngasse''' ("Nobility Lane") is a street in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It connects the tip of the Aar peninsula (the ''Nydegg'' neighbourhood) to the Münster.
The Junkerngasse is the Old City's best-preserved street.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 170">Caviezel et al., 170.</ref> The riverfront of its palatial houses with their late Baroque façades and extensive garden terraces has been described in an art history guidebook as "one of Europe's most magnificent cityscapes".<ref>Caviezel et al., 170: "... einer der grossartigsten Stadtkörper Europas."</ref>
==Topography== The Junkerngasse connects to the generally parallel ''Gerechtigkeitsgasse'' and to the ''Nydegggasse'' in the east, and continues as the ''Münstergasse'' to the west. It is connected to the ''Gerechtigkeitsgasse'' by small alleyways leading north (''Oberes'' and ''Unteres Gerechtigkeitsgässchen''). The ''Bubenbergrain'' descends through the ''Bubenbergtor'', a former city gate, towards the river Aare in the south.
==History== The street was called ''Kirchgasse'' ("Church Lane")<ref>{{Cite web |title= Historisch-topographisches Lexikon der Stadt Bern |last= Weber |first= Berchtold |year= 1976 |url= http://www.digibern.ch/weber/weber_k.html#Kirchgasse |at= Kirchgasse |access-date= 28 January 2010 |language= de |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090425180751/http://www.digibern.ch/weber/weber_k.html#Kirchgasse |archive-date= 25 April 2009 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> up until the 16th century, and was renamed from ''Edle Gasse'' ("Noble Lane") to ''Junkerngasse'' in the 17th century.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 170"/> The latter names reflect the street's character as a residential area almost exclusively used by Bern's leading patrician families.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 170"/> Only a few houses (nos. 7–15) were originally craftsmen's houses.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 170"/>
The street's current topography reflects about the state of 1470.<ref>Hofer, 118.</ref> The earlier records are fragmentary, but at some time between 1430 and 1468 the city's earliest town hall was demolished at the Junkerngasse's the western end.<ref>Hofer, 117.</ref> Since then, the general structure of the street has remained unchanged. The pavement was replaced in 1998.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 170"/>
==Buildings== thumb|left|No. 51, the ''Zeerlederhaus''. thumb|The riverside terrace of the ''Béatrice-von-Wattenwyl-Haus.'' The street's only fountain is the ''Junkerngassbrunnen'', a plain ''Stockbrunnen'' adorned with a 17th-century figure of a lion bearing a lance and the Bubenberg arms.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 170"/> No. 9 is the best-preserved of the Junkerngasse's Late Gothic craftsmen's houses.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 171">Caviezel et al., 171.</ref> No. 21, the ''von Scharnachthal'' house, is one of Berne's most elegant Early Baroque works by Friedrich May.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 171"/> The four-story street façade of no. 31 (1700–20) links Late Renaissance elements with the structure characteristic of the Bernese Late Baroque.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 171"/> The interior of No. 39 displays the skills of 18th-century Bernese craftsmen in transforming medieval townhouses into comfortable residences; the courtyard is particularly noted for its Baroque elegance.<ref>Caviezel et al., 172.</ref> No. 43 (1784–86) is exemplary for Bernese architecture at the threshold between Late Baroque and Classicism.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 173">Caviezel et al., 173.</ref> No. 22 was the workshop of painter Friedrich Traffelet (1897–1954); it features a humorous façade painting of 1913.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 173"/> No. 22, the ''Morlot-Haus'' by Albrecht Türler, is the most ambitious building in the northern part of the street.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 174">Caviezel et al., 174.</ref>
The ''Erlacherhof'' ("Erlach Court"), no. 47, is the most significant private building, in historical and architectural terms, of the Old City.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 174"/> Built 1747–52 by Türler for Hieronymus von Erlach, it is the only application of Jacques-François Blondel's concept of ''palace entre cour et jardin'' – a palace between court and garden – in an urban setting.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 174"/> As the city's greatest urban palace, the ''Erlacherhof'' served as General Guillaume Brune's headquarters in 1798, as the seat of the French Embassy to Switzerland until 1832, and as the first seat of the Swiss Federal Council and the federal administration from 1848 to 1857. It has since been used as the seat of the government of the city of Bern.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 174"/> Part of its outer wall is the ''Bubenbergtor'', a 12th-century city gate and the oldest building in Bern that is still standing.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 175">Caviezel et al., 175.</ref> The house opposite the Erlacherhof on Junkerngasse No. 38 belonged to the legendary Bond Girl Ursula Andress.
The ''Zeerlederhaus'', no. 51, is noted for the 1897 painting by Rudolf Münger on its late Gothic façade.<ref name="Caviezel et al., 175"/> No. 59, the ''Béatrice-von-Wattenwyl-Haus,'' has been described as a concentrate of Bernese architectural history; it has not been significantly altered since its 18th-century reshaping by Joseph Abeille.<ref>Caviezel et al., 177.</ref> In the ownership of the Swiss Confederation since 1934, it is now used for ceremonial events by the Federal Council.<ref>Caviezel et al., 178.</ref>
==References== {{reflist|3}}
==Bibliography== *{{Citation | last1 = Caviezel | first1 = Zita | last2 = Herzog | first2 = Georges | last3 = Keller | first3 = Jürg A. | year = 2006 | title = Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Solothurn | edition = 1st | volume = 3 | series = Kunstführer durch die Schweiz | location = Bern | publisher = Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte | pages = 170–79 | isbn = 3-906131-97-1 }} *{{Citation | last = Hofer | first = Paul | year = 1959 | series = Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern | volume = 2 | title = Die Stadt Bern. Gesellschaftshäuser und Wohnbauten | location = Basel | editor = | publisher = Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte / Verlag Birkhäuser | pages = 116–225 | url = http://digibiblio.unibe.ch/digibern/Chopin/Engine/Systematik/viewer.asp?KatalogID=1&ImgNum=593 | isbn = 3-906131-13-0 | access-date = 6 June 2008 | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023210/http://digibiblio.unibe.ch/digibern/Chopin/Engine/Systematik/viewer.asp?KatalogID=1&ImgNum=593 | url-status = dead }}
==External links== *{{commonscat-inline|Junkerngasse}}
{{Old City of Bern}}
{{coord|46.9479|7.4543|display=title|source:GoogleMaps_type:landmark_region:CH-BE}}
Category:Streets in Bern Category:Old City (Bern)