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26 cantons, 26 jets of water: the water feature on the Bundesplatz in Bern (all photos: Claudia Fahlbusch)
The water feature on the Federal Square has become Bern’s unofficial open-air bath. The water gushes up here from 26 jets – feel free to enjoy a shower if the mood takes you.
When I take a trip to Bern with my son on a hot summer day, I pack his swimming trunks and a towel as well. Because like most water babes, my son finds the water feature on the Federal Square simply irresistible. Since its inauguration in summer 2004, it has become a popular excursion destination and can justifiably claim to be another Bern bath: whole families turn up with their bathing kit, sun screen and picnic things and settle down on the edge of the spectacle for a little while. If need be, underpants are used as swimming trunks – from a distance, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference these days anyway.
The natural stone foundation of the water feature measures 60.6 x 36.6 metres, a rectangle of Grisons gneiss, matching the Federal Parliament building. The 26 jets symbolise the 26 cantons. The water feature follows a particular choreography, so that one can never be sure from which nozzle the water will come next and how high into the air it will shoot. Some people make a sport of trying to cross the square without getting wet. Not many manage the feat consistently however.
The total amount of water circulating in the system is 60 cubic metres, roughly equivalent to around 300 bathtubs. There can be no accusations of water wastage according to Ruedi Loosli, Project Manager at the City of Bern Department of Civil Engineering: “The water is constantly circulated, like a closed system”, he says, explaining the principle in an interview in the customer magazine DiREKT published by the utility Energie Wasser Bern.
Pumped into the jets, it sprays into the air, falls back to the ground and is returned to the system via the drainage channels. There a coarse filter holds back solid contaminants and the automatic chemical testing ensures that the water quality meets the foodstuffs law standard when it comes to the surface again through the jets. It could not be described as drinking water, but certainly bathing water quality as we know it from the swimming pool. “You could drink the water without concern, although it might not taste too good” says Ruedi Loosli.
The water feature is particularly attractive at night by the way: then lighting effects are employed to lend the performance a special touch. The Bundesplatz water feature operates in the summer half of the year from 11.00 to 23.00.
The water feature live on YouTube
Information on the Federal Square, its redesign and history: www.bundesplatz.bern.ch/federal_square
Accommodation
Claudia Fahlbusch
Miroslaw Halaba
