Flora / Mint District Fountain (Münzstadt-Brunnen)

History of the work

At the western end of the small square on Schwarztorstrasse stands a transformer station shaped like a neoclassical temple. Its front is formed by a fountain which the architect Jacques-Denis Antoine designed in 1789 for the courtyard of the Mint (Münzstatt) in the old town. When the Mint had to make way for a new building, the fountain was re-erected here in 1912 at the request of the painter Adolf Tièche. The artificial stone figure of Flora on the east side of the little building was made by Karl Hänny in 1930.

The building inventory describes the fountain as a massive aedicula: two Doric columns carry a plain entablature and a far-projecting triangular pediment. Two semicircular steps lead to a shell-shaped basin in front of a dripstone wall, in which a mask from 1912 pours out the water. The guard stones at the sides come from the former main portal of the Mint. The other decoration on the back is probably by Tièche himself, whose name appears on the entablature. The inventory regards the fountain front as one of the rare surviving buildings of strict high neoclassicism in Bern.

Karl Hänny was born in Twann on 13 June 1879. He trained at the Technikum Biel as a steel engraver, medallist and chaser, then worked in Ulm, Vienna and Munich, studied at the Bern School of Applied Arts and visited Auguste Rodin in Paris in 1903. In 1907 he settled in Bern. He worked as a sculptor, painter, printmaker and medallist; according to Wikipedia he made over 400 plaques and many architectural decorations, mostly in artificial stone, for example on the administration building of the Bernische Kraftwerke at Viktoriaplatz. The figures of Europa and Neptune in the Rosengarten are also his. Hänny was the first president of the Bern adult education centre in 1920 and died in Ligerz on 12 April 1972.

Between the Mint fountain and the Kull fountain at the other end runs an avenue with lawns and an outdoor chess board. The square was laid out in stages from 1912 to 1915. Walk round to the east side of the transformer station to find Flora; at the front, look at the guard stones that once stood at the Mint's portal.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Schwarztorstrasse 62 (Platzanlage mit Transformatorenstation) · Wikipedia (de): Karl Hänny · SIKART: Karl Hänny · Wikimedia Commons: Flora-Statue von Karl Hänny (1930)