From luxury buildings to places for the people

An imposing castle, an ordinary multi-purpose building, a compact skyscraper, a mode cube – Swiss city halls are highly varied in their appearance and history. But all fulfill their purpose as an interface between citizens and the authorities. Switzerland couldn’t function without them.

Be City Hall, dating from the 15^th century, was once the seat of the Be elite. Here, behind the thick sandstone walls, the councillors - all rich and from the nobility - sat together and made decisions about their subjects. Then Napoleon came and ended the regime.

Nowadays this former symbol of lack of freedom and oppression is the building where a democratically-elected local parliament decides, publically, how the city and canton should best be organised.

This transformation is a speculator, but not isolated one. Other city and town halls are more marked by their style than by their histories. They are all visual witnesses to diversity; a fundamental principle of Swiss democracy.

(Text: Renat Kuenzi, picture editor: Rolf Amiet)