Graphics Collection, Photographic Archives and Paintings
Graphics Collection, Photographic Archives and Paintings
The graphics collection, photographic archives and paintings represent their own division of the collections held by the Burgerbibliothek Bern. A large number of these images are available in digitised form in the archives catalogue and can also be downloaded. You will find a guide to searching for images here.
Please note: If you wish to access the collection in the reading room, you must place an order via the archives catalogue and thus make an appointment. In order to ensure their conservation, certain documents are not available for use in the reading room.
Graphics collection and photographic archives
These holdings comprise around 280,000 watercolours, drawings, prints and photographs, including a nationally important collection of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and pannotypes. The images are predominantly of the historical topography of the City of Bern, Bernese country mansions, properties and buildings owned by the Burgergemeinde and portraits of Bernese citizens.
The Burgerbibliothek Bern also holds the personal archives (or parts thereof) from renowned Bernese artists, including Friedrich Walthard (1818–1870), Rudolf Münger (1862–1929), Hanni Bay (1885–1978), Paul Boesch (1889–1969), Roland Werro (1926–2018), Egbert Moehsnang (1927–2017) and Daniel de Quervain (1937–2020).
The largest individual collections are the personal archives of the photographers Walter Neeser (1882–1973) and Eugen Thierstein (1919–2010), the negatives from the archives of the picture postcard publisher Franco-Suisse and the artistic archives of Victor Surbek (1885–1975) and Marguerite Frey-Surbek (1886–1981).
Paintings
The collection of paintings at the Burgerbibliothek Bern gives an insight into Bernese and Swiss artistic tradition from the 16th to the 19th century. In addition to still lifes, interiors and landscapes, a key focus is the large collection of painted portraits. They include paintings of mayors, scholars and other significant personalities from Bern’s history, as well as the famous group portrait of the Library Commission by Johannes Dünz (1645–1736). There are also topographical views, and a very special item, the Regimentstafel by Johann Grimm (1675–1747).
The core of the collection of paintings stems from the former City Library. Nowadays, the Burgerbibliothek is no longer active in collecting paintings.
Portrait documentation
In addition to its own collection, the Burgerbibliothek keeps photographic records of Bernese portraits from the 16th to the 19th century that are held in private ownership or by public institutions and art dealers. This documentation contains around 10,000 references. Over 6,400 portraits are published in the archives catalogue, where they serve as a key source for research into the history of Bernese personalities and families as well as on questions relating to the history of art and culture.