Bust of Johannes Niggeler

History of the work

In the park on Bundesgasse, where the Europapromenade ends, a bronze bust of a man stands on a stone base. The inscription names him: J. Niggeler, 1816–1887. Below it, it says that the Swiss Gymnastics Federation dedicated the monument to its “Turnvater” (father of gymnastics). The casting was done by a Paris foundry; the city's register gives the mark as “E. Gruent Jn, Fondeur Paris”. There are two dates: the city gives 1873, Wikimedia Commons 1891. The inscription on the base already gives Niggeler's year of death, 1887.

Johannes Niggeler was born in Worben in 1816. At the teachers' seminary in Bern he was a pupil of Adolf Spiess, and he qualified as a teacher in 1836. He campaigned for gymnastics in schools and for proper training of gymnastics teachers. After posts in Münchenbuchsee, in the canton of Neuchâtel and in Zurich, he returned to Bern in 1863, taught at the cantonal school and the university and became gymnastics inspector. Among other things he co-founded the Bern cantonal gymnastics association in 1848 and the Bern city gymnastics club in 1873, published the “Schweizerische Turnzeitung” from 1858 and led the Federal Gymnastics Association as central president from 1870 to 1875.

The sculptor Karl Alfred Lanz suited this commission. He was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1847 and trained as an engraver in Biel; according to SIKART, he also won numerous awards as a gymnast in those years. After studying in Munich and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he kept Paris as his home but worked for clients in Switzerland. He became known for the equestrian statue of General Dufour in Geneva (1884); in Bern he made figures for the Kunstmuseum, the Federal Palace and the university. He died in Bern in 1907.

The park lies at the edge of the Kleine Schanze, which was laid out as a landscape park in 1818 and developed into a promenade in 1876. Standing in front of the bust, you can read the inscription from top to bottom: first the name, then the dates, then the association that donated the monument.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Karl Alfred Lanz · Wikipedia (de): Johannes Niggeler · HLS: Johannes Niggeler (Hans-Dieter Gerber) · SIKART: Karl Alfred Lanz (Dora Imhof) · HLS: Karl Alfred Lanz · Open House Bern: Kleine Schanze · Wikimedia Commons: Niggeler-Denkmal (Bronzebüste – Alfred Lanz 1891)