Saint Christopher

History of the work

On the otherwise plain facade of the building between Casinoplatz and Kochergasse sits a sandstone relief showing Saint Christopher. It bears the signature 'R. Schmitz' and is dated 1937. The City of Bern's building inventory calls the relief the artistic accent of a facade that otherwise has almost no decoration.

The building was put up in 1935–1937 to plans by the Bern architect Walter von Gunten for the company Autohalle Kasinoplatz AG. It is an unusual structure: it serves both as the entrance to and the roof of the underground Bellevue garage, now run as a car park and visible mainly from the slope down to the Aare. The canopy over the access ramp and the bus stop is a mushroom slab resting on a single row of columns; according to the inventory this construction exists nowhere else in Bern.

The building changed the townscape. It bridged the last part of the cut in the terrain that had separated the lower from the upper old town, and joined Kochergasse and Casinoplatz into one continuous urban space. For this, the Gerberngraben was filled in and the row of houses there was demolished, which the inventory explicitly regrets. The car park building was extended in 2001–2005. The square itself has only been named after the casino, completed in 1908, since 12 April 1911; according to Wikipedia, the spelling with a C became usual around 1950.

According to the Swiss artists' lexicon SIKART, Robert Schmitz was born in Bern on 4 November 1894 and died there on 10 January 1978. SIKART lists him as a sculptor and painter and also as a writer; the City of Bern gives his full name as Robert August Schmitz. The sources consulted mention no further works or stages of his life.

On site, look for the signature, which according to the city's records is carved into the stone.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Kochergasse 1 · SIKART: Robert Schmitz · Wikipedia (de): Casinoplatz (Bern) · Wikimedia Commons: Sandsteinrelief Christophorus (Robert August Schmitz 1937)