Despite long queues, an estimated 70,000 people took a look behind the scenes of 12 federal buildings in Bern at the weekend to mark the 175th anniversary of modern Switzerland.
Particularly popular among visitors was the chance to touch a gold bar in the Swiss National Bank and view the “Golden Book” with the signature of Queen Elizabeth II in the foreign ministry. The menu cards for state guests in the Bellevue Palace Hotel were also a hit.
The public sometimes queued for more than two hours to get into parliament and the two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They could also meet Interior Minister Alain Berset, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and National Bank President Thomas Jordan.
The occasion for the open “Federal Mile” on Saturday and Sunday was the 175th anniversary of the Swiss Federal Constitution – the birth of the modern federal state. With the entry into force of the Federal Constitution on September 12, 1848, the confederation of states became a federal state and thus the first democracy in Europe since antiquity.
Organisers said the event met with a largely positive response, with the public appreciating the interaction with some 800 federal employees, for example. They acknowledged, however, the long wait times.
“We are sorry that not everyone was able to visit what they had hoped for,” overall project manager Andreas Schilter said in a statement on Sunday. Security checks were unavoidable at a major event like this, and most of the visitors showed understanding for this, he said.
All visitors over the age of 16 had to undergo an identity check and show official identification to the security personnel.
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