Switzerland Guide
Bern
Bernisches Historisches Museum
Highlights of the fascinating Bernisches Historisches Museum include a series of macabre paintings showing "The Dance of Death"; these are 1649 copies of originals (now lost) that were painted in 1516–17 on the wall of Bern's Dominican monastery. The sequence of 24 vivid images, showing a hideously grinning and fooling skeleton leading kings, prostitutes, nuns and lawyers alike to their inevitable fate, sends a chill down your spine – as, no doubt, it was intended to. Also formerly on view were the original sandstone figures from the Last Judgement portal of the Münster, fascinating for the chance to view their details up close. There is a spectacular Islamic collection, with daggers galore, a mounted Turkestan warrior in full armour, jewellery, ceramics and a reconstructed Persian sitting room, as well as some impressive wall-sized medieval Flemish tapestries, including the "Thousand Flowers Tapestry", the only one surviving of a set of eight made in Brussels in 1466, which was looted by Bern during the Burgundian wars of 1474–77.
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–5pm
Price: Free
Website: www.bhm.ch