It all began with a Bird Library: The Museum then and now

Bern Natural History Museum is one of Switzerland’s most important nature museums. Its historical diorama exhibits, with stuffed animals and specimens from Switzerland, Africa, North America and Asia, are unique in Europe and have contributed to the museum’s international reputation. The most well-known exhibits in the collection include Barry, the world-renowned rescue dog to whom the museum has dedicated an exhibition, and the impressive giant crystals from Planggenstock. In total, the museum’s collection includes around 6.5 million items. The collection is not only the heart of the museum, but also a key resource for the museum’s own research. Part of the comprehensive wet collection can be seen by the public in the permanent ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ exhibition. Bern’s oldest museum is also known for its appealing special exhibitions on topics at the interface between science, society and culture. These include exhibitions such as ‘Apocalypse – End Without End’ and ‘Queer – Diversity is in our nature’.

Bern Natural History Museum is a very family-friendly museum with plenty of exciting and educational offers for children, young people and school groups. Unconventional cultural events, such as entertaining science shows, cultural performances in the skeleton gallery and culinary events among the specimens, appeal to people of all ages. The Museum currently employs around 70 people, over 20 of whom work in the science sections and are responsible for managing the collections and undertaking independent research. But let's go back in time.

The Natural History Museum Bern (NHMB) has its origins in a cabinet of curiosities set up at the end of the 17th century in the city library. As the collections of minerals, rocks, coins, dried plants and mollusc shells grew, a gallery was added to the library (1773-75) in order to display them. These exhibition rooms were popularly known as the "Bird Library" thanks to the extensive bird collection contributed by pastor Daniel Sprüngli.

The NHMB was officially founded in 1832, when the city council voted to set up an independent Museum Commission that would be separate from the Library Commission. Before this, the natural history collections and the historical and ethnographic collections had been one. The NHMB is thus the oldest museum in Bern.  

The next milestone in the NHMB's development was the "separation agreement" of 1852 in which all the possessions of the former city state of Bern were divided up between the "municipality of residents" and the community of burghers. The agreement saw the Burgergemeinde become the sole owner of the museum collections. Once the dried plants had been moved to the new Botanic Gardens, the NHMB was left with the geological and zoological collections. 

Bursting at the seams

In its almost 200-year history, the NHMB has had to move three times due to a lack of space. In 1882 it relocated from the library gallery to a new building opposite the art gallery, and in 1934 to its current premises in Bernastrasse. The Bernastrasse site was the result of a "swap" with the Telegraph Authority, which had also outgrown its offices and offered the Burgergemeinde a large sum of money for the Hodlerstrasse site in order to expand. This enabled the Burgergemeinde to construct a five-storey horseshoe-shaped building on the newly acquired plot between the History Museum and the National Library. The NHMB's needs with regard to space had changed drastically with the arrival of the dioramas, and the new building was designed to reflect this. Architecturally, it is regarded as a prime example of the Modern style. "The Natural History Museum, which has much in common with an industrial building in being purpose-built specifically to accommodate a particular concept, constitutes, in its enlightened objectivity and absolute rejection of monumentality, an important contribution to Swiss Modernism." (Swiss Architecture Guide 1992-96).

The role of the dioramas

Who knows what direction the NHMB would have taken had it not been approached at the beginning of the 20th century by the big game hunter Bernard von Wattenwyl. A burgher of Bern, von Wattenwyl lived in London but offered to donate to the Museum everything he bagged on a planned hunting trip to Africa if the Museum would pay the freight costs. With regard to the presentation of the animals, he suggested that dioramas be built - large display cases with a painted background which show the animals in their natural habitat.  

The Museum accepted the offer, and in 1923, von Wattenwyl travelled to East Africa as planned. After his tragic death, his daughter Vivienne, who had accompanied him on the expedition, saw the safari through to the end and ultimately presented the Museum with 134 skins, skulls and horns stemming from 53 mammal species.

Von Wattenwyl's impressive legacy was to be instrumental in shaping the Museum. Shortly after the opening of the Wattenwyl room (1936), the NHMB put parts of its insect collection, its mineral collection, its fossil collection and its collection of Swiss fauna on display. The Museum had gone from being a purely scientific institution to one which hosted public exhibitions, and it attracted crowds from near and far.  

The new building becomes the old building

As the years passed, the Museum gradually outgrew its new home. When the Bernastrasse premises opened, the Museum had employed ten people. By 1984, it had a staff of 34. The building had been designed to house the permanent exhibition constituted by the dioramas, and now there was a lack of space not only for offices and work rooms, but also for temporary thematic exhibitions.

An extension was built onto the east side of the original building, and in 1998, the NHMB was finally able to breathe out again. The new building created much-needed infrastructure, addressed the planning mistakes of 1932 and prepared to see the Museum into next millennium. The architectural significance of the 1930s complex naturally influenced the extension and conversion work which went on in the 1990s. A physical separation was created between the area accessible to the public and the office and lab space, and between the scientific collections and those on public display. The basement was turned into a modern two-storey depot offering optimum storage conditions for the over 6.5 million specimens now in the Museum's possession. The NHMB at last found itself with enough office space, laboratories and workshops to maintain the standard of research for which it was now renowned.

In with the sensuous – the Museum today

After the extension opened in 1998, the process began of modernizing the permanent exhibitions. The historical dioramas, however, were consciously left in their original state, partly because they were among the few displays that were still completely intact, and partly because of the sheer quality of their artistry and design.

In 2011 under the current director Dr. Christoph Beer, the Natural History Museum adopted a fresh outreach strategy aimed at attracting new groups of the population to the Museum, and at conveying information about natural history-related topics in an enticing and unexpected way. The approach could be described as "out with the intellectual, in with the sensuous". More special and temporary exhibitions are planned in order to increase the dynamism of the Museum, and unconventional events are another pillar of a strategy which is already showing clear signs of success. In 2016, the Museum broke its own visitor record by clocking up 130,945 admissions.  

2017 will go down as another important year in the NHMB's history as the Museum begins to take over the remaining floors of the extension - areas previously occupied by external tenants. By 2019, the Museum will have 1,200 m2 more display space at its disposal, which will finally allow it to increase the size of its special exhibitions. November 2017 will see the opening of the five-year exhibition "Apocalypse" on the third floor, and in 2019, the NHMB will claim the second floor too, which currently serves as a depot for the History Museum Bern.

Over the course of its almost 200-year history, the Natural History Museum of Bern (NMBE) has had to move three times owing to lack of space: originally housed in a library gallery, it moved to a new building opposite the Museum of Fine Arts in 1882; in 1934, a new museum was opened in Bernastrasse, where it has remained to this day. The Bernastrasse building was obtained through a land exchange with the Swiss Telegraph Directorate, which bought the property on Hodlerstrasse for its own expansion project. The proceeds of the sale allowed the municipality of Bern to build a horseshoe-shaped building on the newly acquired plot, between the Bernisches Historisches Museum [Bern History Museum] and the State Library. The five-storey building was much more suitable for housing the museum’s many dioramas. It was considered a prime example of modern architecture. ‘The Natural History Museum of Bern has been constructed very much with its purpose in mind, giving it much in common with industrial buildings, and it represents an important contribution to Swiss modernism, thanks to its clear definition, monumental nature and lofty practicality.’ (Schweiz. Architekturführer 1992–96 [Guide to Swiss Architecture]).

Who knows what direction the NMBE might have taken if the big game hunter Bernard von Wattenwyl had not joined the public institution in the early 20th century? Originally from Bern, but living in London, he offered the museum whatever he bagged from a forthcoming expedition to Africa – if, in turn, the museum was prepared to pay the shipping costs. He suggested using dioramas to exhibit the animals to the public. These large display cases present the animals against a painted backdrop, as if in their natural environment.

The museum accepted his offer, and von Wattenwyl travelled to East Africa in 1923. After his tragic death, his daughter, Vivienne, who accompanied him on the expedition, saw the project through to completion. She gave the NMBE 134 skins, skulls, horns and antlers from 53 species of mammal. Von Wattenwyl’s impressive legacy had a significant impact on the development of the museum. The opening of the Wattenwyl room (1936) was soon followed by a permanent collection of insects, the mineral collection, palaeontology room, and a museum of local history. The NMBE had become a collection of exhibitions, drawing visitors from far and wide.

As the decades passed, the needs of the expanding museum outgrew the building. When the building in Bernastrasse opened, the museum had ten employees. By 1984, this number had increased to 34. The building had been designed to house exhibitions, with permanent diorama displays – not only did it lack space for temporary, themed exhibitions, but it also lacked office space.

The new building, which was opened in 1998, therefore represented another milestone for this institution of the municipality of Bern. Expansion on the eastern side of the building finally created the infrastructure the museum required, correcting the planning mistakes of 1932 and preparing the museum to move forward into the new millennium.

The historic architectural significance of the 1930s’ building complex was the basis and inspiration for the expansion and renovation project in the 1990s. The public areas and offices were separated from one another, as were the scientific and permanent exhibitions. Modern storage rooms were created over a number of floors in the basement, providing ideal storage for the museum’s 6.5 million items. Finally, the NMBE had sufficient offices, laboratories and workshops for its research, for which it has earned an excellent reputation in recent decades.

The permanent exhibitions have been continually updated since the opening of the new museum in 1998. The historic dioramas, however, have been kept in their original state. This is partly because they are some of the few fully-preserved dioramas of their kind and partly because of their highly creative and artistic qualities.

In 2011, under the current Museum Director, Dr Christoph Beer, the Natural History Museum adopted a new strategy. It aims to redouble its publicity efforts to attract new audiences to the museum and to convey natural history topics in an appealing and surprising way – based on the concept of ‘less cerebral, more sensory’. The museum wants to create a more dynamic experience for visitors with more special and temporary exhibitions. Unconventional events form another element of the strategy. The new strategy has clearly been a success: in 2016, the museum received a record-breaking 130,945 visitors.

2017 will go down as a significant year in the history of the museum, because the final two floors of the extension that was opened in 1998 were finally occupied. The upper floors had been rented out to other parties after the opening. By 2019, the exhibition space was expanded by an additional 1,200 square metres – finally providing enough space for large special exhibitions.