4 Churches to Explore in Canton of Bern

This is the seat of the Swiss reformist catholic church in Switzerland, formed in 1871. The cathedral is comparatively modern, having been built next to the city hall between 1858 and 1864, and was the result of an international design competition, won by a group of architects including Frenchman Pierre Joseph Edouard Deperthes, the architect of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris.

The Protestant Church of the Holy Spirit is located near the Main Train station building. It was built in the Baroque style by the Knights Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit. It was founded in 1726 on the site of an earlier Christian Church. The Church was originally built as a Protestant temple, and eventually became one of the most remarkable Protestant churches in Switzerland.

The Reformed Nydeggkirche is located on the eastern edge of the Old City of Bern, in the Nydegg section. It sits on the grounds where Duke Berchtold of Zahringen founded the city of Bern in 1191. Legend states that Berchtold would name the city after the first animal he killed during a hunting expedition, hence the name Bern, or Bear in German.

The Bernese Minster has the highest church spire in all of Switzerland and is one of the most important landmarks of the capital. The Gothic sandstone building sits above the rooftops of the Old City, and the silhouette of its spire, over 100 meters high, is a key feature of Bern’s distinctive skyline.