The People's Source of Strength

History of the work

In front of the four central half-columns on the façade of the former Volkshaus at Zeughausgasse 9 stand four large figures by Bernhard Hoetger. The ensemble is called 'Kraftquelle des Volkes' (Source of the people's strength) and dates from 1914. The city's heritage inventory describes a worker and a mother on lion brackets. Sources disagree on the material: the city's register says artificial stone, a 2013 article by the architectural historian Bernd Nicolai in the 'Baustelle' column of the Federation of Swiss Architects speaks of cast concrete, and the image description on Wikimedia Commons of shell limestone.

The building was erected in 1913/14 to plans by the architect Otto Ingold for the Volkshaus company and opened at the end of October 1914. It housed the Bern workers' union and served as an educational centre. A Volkshaus had stood on the same site since 1893 and is regarded as the oldest in Switzerland. The façade is made of coloured concrete with a hand-worked surface; the heritage inventory calls it a jointless artificial-stone sculpture that takes up the front of the neighbouring Äusserer Stand at twice the size. In 1981 the building was renamed Hotel Bern and rebuilt by 1983 behind the preserved main façade.

Hoetger, born on 4 May 1874 in Hörde near Dortmund, became a professor at the Darmstadt artists' colony in 1911; in 1914 he moved to Worpswede, and later designed buildings on Böttcherstrasse in Bremen. According to Nicolai, copies of the Bern figures were shown in Darmstadt in 1914, and further versions exist in Berlin and Bremen. Hoetger joined the Nazi party in 1934 but was expelled after his art was branded 'degenerate' from 1936. In 1943 he fled to Switzerland and died on 18 July 1949, in Unterseen according to Wikipedia, in Beatenberg according to the Neue Deutsche Biographie.

According to Nicolai the figures were carefully restored around 2010; a full modernisation of the hotel followed in 2019/20. The decoration on the rear front is by Etienne Perincioli; the inscription 'VOLKS HAVS 1914' is also there. Standing in front of the building, look for the lions beneath the figures' feet.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Stadt Bern: Kunstwerke im öffentlichen Raum (opendata.swiss) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Zeughausgasse 9 (Volkshaus) · BSA, Kolumne Baustelle (Bernd Nicolai, 7.12.2013) · Wikipedia (de): Volkshaus Bern · Hotel Bern: History · Wikipedia (de): Bernhard Hoetger · NDB: Hoetger, Bernhard · Wikimedia Commons: Foto