BERN FACTS - Issuu

from Bern 2026 Winter Olympic Games

Bern, also spelled Berne, city, capital of Switzerland and of Bern canton, in the west-central part of the country. This fact surprises a lot of people since cities such as Geneva and Zurich are more widely known, but this can be attributed to both of those cities being financial hubs. With a population of about 133,000 (as of 2022), Bern is the fifth-most populous city in Switzerland, behind Zurich, Geneva, Basel, and Lausanne. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerland's cantons. The official language is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Bernese German. In 1983, the historic old town in the center of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is notably surrounded by the Aare, a major river of the Swiss Plateau.

Old Bern, connected by several bridges to newer parts of the city on the right bank, preserves more of its medieval appearance than any other Swiss city. It is characterized by 2.3 square miles (6 square km) of covered arcades, towers, and 16th-century fountains. The Gothic cathedral (1421–1598), with its 328-foot (100-metre) spire—the highest in Switzerland—is the dominant landmark. In addition to being the Swiss federal capital, Bern is the headquarters of the international postal, telegraph, railway, and copyright unions. Its industries include the manufacture of printing products, chocolate, machinery, electrical equipment, and chemical and pharmaceutical products.

When it comes to things that Switzerland is well-known for, there are several that come to mind. Some of these are alphorn, yodeling, Swiss chocolate and cheese, watches, cowbells, banking, Swiss army knives, the accordion which has always been a traditional musical instrument, Swiss alps (which has made skiing and mountaineering famous), architecture and wood carving. Cuckoo clocks are also an important part of the culture, even though they originated in Germany.

Swiss cuisine is influenced by German, French and North Italian cuisine and it varies from region to region based on where those languages are spoken. The language divisions constitute boundary outlines. When it comes to food, these are some of the most famous ones:

Cheese Fondue

Melted cheese with bread cubes. The bread cubes are picked up on the fork and swivelled in the melted cheese, which is served in a traditional ceramic fondue pot called ʻcaquelon’.

Bircherm Esli

Developed around about 1900 by the Swiss doctor Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Brenner, it contains oat flakes, lemon juice, condensed milk, grated apples, hazelnuts, or almonds.

Raclette

Melted cheese served with "Gschwellti" (jacket potatoes), cocktail gherkins and onions as well as pickled fruit.

R Sti

A flat, hot cake made of grated, cooked jacket or raw potatoes and fried in hot butter or fat. The dish is bound by the starch contained in the potatoes.

Swiss Chocolate

Chocolate came to Europe in the course of the 16th century, by the 17th century at the very latest it became known and was produced in Switzerland as well. In the second half of the 19th century Swiss chocolate started to gain a reputation abroad. The invention of milk chocolate by Daniel Peter as well as the development of conching (fondant chocolate) by Rodolphe Lindt were closely connected with the rise of Swiss chocolate's renown. Even Belgian chocolate has Swiss roots: Jean Neuhaus opened a confectionary shop in Brussels and his son Frédéric in 1912 invented the praline chocolate.

Swiss Cheese

One could quite easily explore Switzerland travelling from cheese dairy to cheese dairy. Each area of the country, each region has its own types of cheese – the diversity of products created from one single base ingredient – good Swiss milk. Some of the most well-known cheeses are Vacherin, Appenzeller, Sbrinz, Emmentaler and the world-famous Gruyère. Or the Tête de Moine which is shaved into decorative rosettes.

represents freedom, honor, and loyalty. The Swiss flag in modern times also represents neutrality, democracy, and peace, largely due to Switzerland's stance as a neutral country since 1815. The cross is an important feature that could be used both as a container, but also to create some contrast with some of the city/mountain scapes. These are features that are a big part of Switzerland and those 3 main features: cross, mountains and architecture, are the biggest influences in the creation of the logo design.