Nydegg Church (Nydeggkirche)

About the building

On the eastern edge of Bern's old town, right by the Nydegg Bridge, stands the Reformed Nydegg Church. Its name comes from a Middle High German expression for the "lower corner". You enter it from the bridge side, through the door at Nydeggasse 6, or from the small courtyard at Nydegghof 2, known locally as the Nydegghöfli.

The church stands where Nydegg Castle once was. The castle was built in the late twelfth century under the Dukes of Zähringen, apparently at the same time as the town, on the outermost tip of the Aare peninsula. Its core was a fortified residential tower measuring about 22.5 by 16.2 metres. After the death of Berthold V in 1218 it became an imperial castle; shortly after 1268 the Bernese destroyed it. The German Wikipedia dates this to 1268/70, the English one to 1266 to 1273. King Rudolf of Habsburg pardoned the town for the deed in a charter of 1274. A large part of the site went to the Teutonic Order.

The order had a church with a roof turret built on the ruins from 1341 to 1346. A tower was added in 1480 to 1483 and a new nave in 1493 to 1504. After the Reformation the building served as a store for barrels, timber and grain, and from 1566 again for worship; until 1721 it was a daughter church of the Minster. In 1568 the tower roof burned down, the tower was renewed by 1571, and its present form largely dates from that time.

An extension to the west in 1863 gave the church its entrance from the bridge. A complete remodelling followed from 1951 to 1953. Today both portals have bronze doors with 16 reliefs by Marcel Perincioli from 1956, showing scenes from the life of Jesus and inspired by medieval models in Verona and Hildesheim. From 1951, under the direction of Paul Hofer, the remains of the castle were also uncovered; the draw well was reconstructed, and one corner of the residential tower survives by the church. The Zähringer monument has stood in the Nydegghöfli since 1968. Among the church's pastors, from 1961 to 1983, was Kurt Marti.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Untere Altstadt (alle Adressen) · Wikipedia (de): Nydeggkirche · Wikipedia (en): Nydeggkirche · Burgenwelt: Burg Nydegg (Stand 2015, mit Literatur: Hofer, Baeriswyl) · Wikidata: Q2006078