Facade decoration

History of the work

Looking up from Rathausplatz at the great outdoor staircase of the town hall, you see a whole row of figures in sandstone and cast stone on the south side. According to Wikipedia, the left side shows Saint Martin, Diogenes, an angel, Truth and virtues, the right side Samson, Satan, Lies, vices and Cowardice. One of the figures is documented on Wikimedia Commons as the sandstone statue 'Wahrheit' (Truth) of 1942. According to the art guide of the Society for the History of Swiss Art, all the sculpture on the staircase is by Gustave Piguet.

The figures were made during the last major rebuilding. The town hall, seat of the cantonal government, the cantonal parliament and the city parliament, was built in 1406–1417 and lavishly furnished in Neo-Gothic style by Friedrich Salvisberg in 1865–1868. From 1940 to 1942 Martin Risch rebuilt it with the aim of restoring the medieval building; the staircase was largely reconstructed in historical style. Wikipedia sees in the new sculptures the ideas of the then socialist head of the building department, Robert Grimm, combined with the 'spiritual national defence' of those years. The art guide judges critically that, under the impression of the war years, a massive monument in a period 'Heimatstil' was created.

Gustave Piguet was born in Interlaken on 19 February 1909 and died on 12 December 1976; his place of citizenship was Le Chenit in the Vaud Jura. SIKART describes him as a sculptor for buildings and public space. According to a short biography on AskArt, he trained in Bern as a wood and stone sculptor, went to Paris, took part in the 1937 World Exhibition and returned to Bern in 1939 when the war began, where many commissions followed. As Wikipedia reports, the later sculptor Walter Kretz gave up his path to the school-leaving exam after a visit to Piguet and began an apprenticeship as a stone sculptor.

On site, read the figures in pairs: Truth and Lies face each other across the staircase.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Rathaus (Bern) · GSK-Kunstführer im KGS-Inventar: Rathaus Bern (KGS 645) · SIKART: Gustave Piguet · AskArt: Gustave Piguet, Biografie · Wikipedia (de): Walter Kretz · Wikimedia Commons: Sandsteinstatue Wahrheit (Gustave Piguet 1942)