Music Library of the Bern University of the Arts

About the building

In the inventory of cultural property of national importance, the entry at this address is not a building but a collection: the music library of the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). According to the university, it is the largest music library in the canton of Bern. Its focus lies on performance and interpretation practice of the 19th and early 20th centuries, on Urtext editions, contemporary music, and repertoire guides and reference works.

The library is housed in the old Bern barracks, where the HKB also has instrumental teaching, a recording studio and concert rooms. The complex was built from 1873 to 1879 as the cantonal military establishment on the Beundenfeld, to designs by the architect Adolphe Tièche, following a popular vote in 1873. According to Wikipedia, the barracks themselves were controversial at the time because people feared their effect as a symbol of power. The building inventory describes the soldiers' barracks as a palace-like, four-storey three-winged block with a clock aedicule and the Bernese coat of arms above the entrance; next to it stands the long former riding hall with two slender stable wings.

The buildings were thoroughly renovated around 2000: No. 13 from 1998 to 2002 by the architects Beat and Jutta Strasser, with a new use, and the barracks block, No. 15, from 2000 to 2003. During this work the art installation Black Boxes & Memory Cases by Cécile Wick and Peter Radelfinger was created. We could not establish from the sources exactly which of the buildings houses the library.

Since 2007 the music library has held, on deposit, the collection of the ForumMusikDiversität Schweiz with scores, books and recordings; in 2026 it became the property of the Bern University of Applied Sciences. Its core is music by women composers, such as songs and compositions by Swiss women composers. Students regularly play pieces from the holdings in a concert series held in the library.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Papiermühlestrasse 13A–K, 15 (Kaserne und Reithalle) · Hochschule der Künste Bern: HKB Musikbibliothek · Hochschule der Künste Bern: Standort Papiermühlestrasse 13 · Wikipedia (de): Kantonale Kaserne Beundenfeld · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Breitenrain-Lorraine, KGS 9166 · Wikidata: Q27479796