Bern is home to the Swiss government, parliament and large parts of the administration, but it’s not officially the capital of Switzerland. Rather, it bears the title “federal city”. Why? If you ask foreigners for the capital of Switzerland, they often say Zurich or Geneva. These aren’t crazy answers, since Zurich is the largest and economically most important Swiss city and Geneva is the centre of international organisations. But they’re wrong. And so is Bern! Although the government, parliament, the Federal Chancellery and much of the federal administration are based in Bern, it’s not called the capital. This is because Switzerland is Switzerland – meaning complicated, historically established and rather pragmatic solutions. To understand why the definition of Switzerland’s capital is unusual, we have to go back a long way: to the very origin of Switzerland. From 1291, the country was formed from a series of cantons that joined in a loose alliance. Until the end of the 18th ...
