Barry the St Bernard, the national animal of Switzerland?

Legend has it that Barry was stabbed to death by a French soldier who mistook him for a wolf. NMBE / Schaeublin

Switzerland hasn’t got a national animal, but if it did, there’s a good case to be made for Barry, a much-loved barrel-wearing St Bernard who died more than 200 years ago and is stuffed and on display in Bern.

Barry saved 40 lives as a mountain rescue dog on the border with Italy in southwestern Switzerland, including a half-frozen boy whom he flipped onto his back and carried to safety. Barry was eventually bayonetted to death by one of Napoleon’s soldiers who mistook him for a wolf.  

Well, he might have saved 40 lives – the rest is a shaggy dog story. “The truth is that not even the cleverest or strongest of dogs would be capable of such a feat,” admits Bern’s Natural History Museum, which has a permanent exhibitionExternal link devoted to Barry, regarding the child-saving. And as for his dramatic death, “while it’s true that a few isolated wolves lived on the pass at this time, and that Napoleon crossed it in May 1800 with around 46,000 soldiers, Barry wasn’t actually born until that same year”.

Barry at Bern’s Natural History Museum. NMBE / Nelly Rodriguez

“When you’re a saint or someone very famous, your death has to be something special too – you can’t just die in your bed!” Marc Nussbaumer, an archaeozoologist and scientific advisor at Bern Natural History Museum, told Swissinfo at the exhibition’s opening in 2014. 

Which, in reality, is what Barry did in Bern in 1814, having been brought down – old and tired – from the Great St Bernard HospiceExternal link on the Swiss-Italian border two years earlier. 

Quite why a monastery servant brought the 12-year-old dog to Bern is a mystery. Possibly he was to have an educational role, advertising the work of the Augustinian canons up at the hospice. 

Indeed, when Barry died, it seems he was already well known. In 1816, Friedrich Meisner, a professor of natural history in Bern, wrote: “I find it pleasant and also comforting to think that this faithful dog, who saved the lives of so many people, will not be quickly forgotten after his death!”

Barry on film

Barry’s first appearance on the big screen was in the French melodrama Barry in 1949 (producers might have noted that Lassie had recently appeared in several Hollywood hits). According to this summaryExternal link, “a young woman is rescued at the St Bernard Pass. As a result, she is reunited with the man to whom she was once engaged. Now she must choose between two men. Barry, the avalanche dog, plays a fateful role in this regional romance”. Sure enough, Barry saves a child.

In 1977, Disney produced a two-part television film, Barry of the Great St. BernardExternal link. Shot largely on location in the Swiss Alps, the film follows an orphan at the hospice who trains a St Bernard pup to become a rescue dog. The film goes big on monastic life in the hospice, but dog fans won’t be disappointed – Barry saves a child.

In January 2026, Mein Freund BarryExternal link (Barry & Me) reached Swiss and German cinemas. If you liked Heidi and Schellen-Ursli, you’ll probably like this: gloriously shot Alpine landscapes and cute orphans (and puppies). I haven’t seen it, so I can’t say whether Barry saves a child, but I wouldn’t bet against it.

‘Ambassador for Switzerland’

The Great St Bernard Hospice is located at nearly 2,500 metres above sea level on the treacherous Great St Bernard Pass, which connects Martigny in canton Valais, southwestern Switzerland, to Aosta in Italy. It has provided food and shelter for travellers for almost 1,000 years.

While the canons would spend their days and nights praying and looking after guests, local guides would patrol the paths helping anyone who had got into trouble. In the mid-17^th century, these guides started taking strong farm dogs of all breeds with them – including a young Barry. The hospice and its dogs are estimated to have saved more than 2,000 lives over the years.

“The canons’ rescue dogs were not like modern avalanche dogs,” the Natural History Museum explains. “Their main role was to find the way back to the hospice in heavy blizzards. Barry was almost certainly an extraordinary dog, or he wouldn’t have been famous even before his death. However, many of the legends which surround Barry are not based in fact.”

This was not a problem for Michael Keller, in 2014 the vice-director of Bern Tourism. “His story is still great – running around the mountains saving people. He’s giving hope to everybody, and I think it’s this combination that makes Barry, even today, a good ambassador for Switzerland,” he told Swissinfo.

Keller said Barry remained very popular, especially in Asia. “A lot of Japanese people come to Bern. They don’t know much about Bern, but they know about the bears and Barry – they always ask where they can find Barry.” 

Noble and heroic

The answer is in Bern’s Natural History Museum, where a multimedia, interactive exhibition includes Barry himself – or at least his fur.

Barry exhibition

“Barry – the legendary St Bernard” is a permanent exhibition at Bern Natural History Museum which opened in June 2014, 200 years after his death.

Previously Barry had been squeezed between the men’s and ladies’ lavatories near the museum entrance. 

The multimedia, interactive exhibition not only explains the story of Barry but also looks at the Great St Bernard Hospice and the monks who lived there and compares mountain rescue of 200 years ago with that of today. 

It is aimed at an international audience of all ages. Information signs are in German and English.

You don’t have to be a Crufts judge to notice that Barry bears little resemblance to the hulking St Bernards that we know today. Looking at him in his golden shrine-like display, you can’t help noticing that he looks more like an athletic Labrador.

The canons in the hospice didn’t care what the dogs looked like, as long as they could do the job. But when pedigree breeding took off at the end of the 19th century, appearance was everything and, when it came to St Bernards, bigger was better.

As a result, in 1923 Barry’s stuffed body was modified because it no longer conformed to the public’s expectation of the breed (Barry weighed 40-45kg whereas modern St Bernards can be double that). His head was made bigger – the original skull is shown in a separate case – and his legs were stretched by about 10cm (look closely and you can see the difference in fur colour and texture). In addition, his head was raised, to “correct” the previously submissive stance and make him appear more noble and heroic.

A dedicated theme park 

The exhibition is well worth a look, but there’s one place that Barryphiles really can’t miss: Barryland!

The Barryland Theme ParkExternal link in Martigny, funded by the Barry FoundationExternal link, offers “an immersive experience entirely dedicated to St Bernard dogs”. For example, what would happen if you became a St Bernard? The “Sensorama” lets you see, hear and sniff like a dog. You can also watch the dogs have their daily meal (and learn about their diet) and see them enjoy grooming and hydrotherapy sessions. Summer hikesExternal link or winter strolls, accompanied by two or three dogs, are also available.

A pampering room at Barryland. Kevin Fasolato

The Barry Foundation, the organisation responsible for breeding the dogs from the Great St Bernard Pass, currently has 32 St Bernards (one of whom is always called Barry). An average of 20 puppies are born a year at the Barry Foundation and most are sold – at CHF2,800 ($3,500) a pop/pup (if certain conditions are met). 

If you weren’t planning on returning home with a puppy, the Barry Shop has something for all tastes and budgets: how about some Barry schnapps glasses? Or a Barry biscuit set? Or a Barry reversible neck warmer?  

Barryland opened in August 2025 in the presence of Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who held the rotating Swiss presidency at the time and is godmother to a St Bernard, Zeus.

Karin Keller-Sutter with a pup at Barryland in August 2025. Keystone / Gabriel Monnet

Keller-Sutter was visibly moved. “Even today, the name Barry stands for courage and heroic deeds,” she said. “Through this, Barryland honours an entire Swiss tradition.”

Edited by Reto Gysi von Wartburg/gw