Bust of Theodor Kocher

History of the work

In the Kocherpark, near the flight of steps up to Laupenstrasse, the bronze bust of Theodor Kocher stands on a granite stele. The sculptor Max Fueter made it in 1944. According to the German Wikipedia, the portrait was commissioned by the city and the Burgergemeinde (the old burgher corporation) of Bern.

Kocher was born in Bern in 1841 and died in his home town in 1917. For his research on the surgery and physiology of the thyroid gland he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1909, the first surgeon to do so. Bern honoured him in several ways: shortly after his death the Inselgasse was renamed Kochergasse, and since 1927 another bust, a work by Karl Hänny, has stood by the main entrance of the Inselspital.

The park goes back to a will. Albert Kocher, one of the surgeon's sons, left a plot on Belpstrasse to the Burgergemeinde in 1941, on condition that it become a public 'Theodor-Kocher-Park'. In the same year the Burgergemeinde passed the land to the municipality, which had the garden laid out and decided to add a bronze bust. Park and monument were inaugurated on 19 September 1944. A master's thesis from the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences describes the site as two former villa gardens in the style of English landscape gardens, only joined in 1993 to form a park of about one hectare.

Fueter (1898–1983) was born in Konolfingen according to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland and Wikipedia, while the artists' lexicon SIKART gives Bern. From 1918 he attended the trade school, learned figure drawing from Ernst Linck and Victor Surbek and later worked in Berlin and Rome. From 1950 to 1954 he sat on the city's art commission. According to SIKART, portrait heads and busts make up about half of his work.

The park has had an eventful history since: until it was closed on 31 March 1992 it was the meeting place of the open drug scene, and since 2017 it has again hosted public events. Anyone wanting to see both Kocher busts can compare Fueter's with the older one by Hänny at the Inselspital.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Theodor Kocher · Wikipedia (de): Kocherpark · Wikipedia (de): Max Fueter · Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Fueter, Max (Tapan Bhattacharya) · SIKART: Max Fueter (Johanna Strübin Rindisbacher) · OST Ostschweizer Fachhochschule: Kocherpark Bern – Parkpflegewerk (Masterarbeit 2017, Abstract) · Wikimedia Commons: Bronzebüste Theodor Kocher (Max Fueter 1944)