Monument to Rudolf von Erlach

History of the work

In the small park on Grabenpromenade, opposite the city theatre, Rudolf von Erlach sits on a horse in bronze. The rider stands on a massive base surrounded by four bears with chains between them. According to Wikipedia, the inscription on the front of the base calls him 'victor at Laupen, 21 June 1339'. The chronicler Konrad Justinger describes Erlach as leader of the Confederates in that battle; according to Wikipedia, however, the only documented fact is that he led them against Fribourg in 1340.

The design was by Joseph Simon Volmar; the monument was built by the Bern architect Gottfried Debler with the Solothurn master stonemason Urs Bargetzi. After many political disputes it was unveiled on Münsterplatz on 12 May 1849, and the University of Bern gave Volmar an honorary doctorate for it.

In 1961 the monument was removed from Münsterplatz because it was in the way; since July 1969 it has stood on Grabenpromenade, in the small park known as the Ringgipärkli. It remained controversial there too. In 2021 two city councillors proposed moving it again because it divided the park and made events difficult. The city executive refused in 2022: the work takes up only about a sixteenth of the area, and moving it would be costly and could damage the monument, which had only recently been restored. The two texts disagree on which way the rider looks: the proposers say north, the executive says east, with the whole ensemble aligned with the theatre.

Volmar (1796–1865) came from Bern and was a painter, sculptor, lithographer and teacher. From 1814 he studied in Paris, among others with Horace Vernet and Théodore Géricault, and later learned sculpture with David d'Angers. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland praises him as a skilled animal painter; in 1832–1834 he published an anatomical atlas of the horse with Andreas-Friedrich Gerber, and in 1836 he became a professor at the Bern art school.

On site you will often see children climbing on the four bears; the 2021 motion describes exactly that.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Erlach-Denkmal · Wikipedia (de): Rudolf von Erlach · Wikipedia (de): Joseph Simon Volmar · HLS: Volmar, Joseph (Tapan Bhattacharya) · Stadtrat Bern: Postulat 2021.SR.000230 und Antwort des Gemeinderats · Plattform J, 5. April 2022: „Rudolph von Erlach“ darf bleiben · Wikimedia Commons: Erlach-Denkmal