Blue Thrush

History of the work

At the southern end of Hirschengraben stands a small fountain pavilion with a copper dome, the Widmann fountain. Inside it is a bronze figure by Hermann Haller: a youth with a blue rock thrush. The City of Bern lists it simply as 'Blaudrossel' (Blue Rock Thrush) and dates it to 1922, as does the Wikipedia article on Haller. The article on Widmann and Wikimedia Commons, by contrast, say the figure has adorned the fountain since 1923.

The fountain itself was built in 1914, paid for by donations, in memory of Joseph Victor Widmann. The writer and literary critic, born near Brno in 1842, headed the girls' school of the municipality of Bern from 1868 until the authorities declined to re-elect him in 1880 because of his verse epics. From then until his death in 1911 he was arts editor of the newspaper 'Der Bund', whose offices then stood opposite today's fountain. The whole ensemble was restored in 1986/87.

The square takes its name from the deer that were kept from 1757 to 1877 in the ditch in front of the Christoffel bastion. In 1877 the ditch was filled in and planted with two rows of trees; the Bubenberg monument was added on the north side in 1930. In March 2021 voters approved a loan for the works at the railway station. According to Wikipedia, the plans foresee removing the Widmann fountain and moving the Bubenberg monument.

Haller, born in Bern in 1880, went to grammar school there with Paul Klee and first wanted to be a painter. In Rome he turned to sculpture around 1905, lived in Paris until 1914 and then in Zurich, where he died in 1950. According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland he was one of the best-known sculptors in the German-speaking world in the 1920s; in 1934 he represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale together with Cuno Amiet. In Bern he also made the monument to Oskar Bider on the Kleine Schanze.

Standing in front of the pavilion, look for the bird that gives the figure its name.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Joseph Victor Widmann · Wikipedia (de): Hirschengraben (Bern) · Wikipedia (de): Hermann Haller (Bildhauer) · HLS: Hermann Haller · SIKART: Hermann Haller (Maria Apel) · Wikimedia Commons: Widmann-Brunnen (Jüngling mit Blaudrossel – Hermann Haller 1923)