Bernisches Historisches Museum / Einstein Museum

The Bernisches Historisches Museum is a grand, castle-like stone building that dominates Helvetiaplatz. Designed by architect André Lambert and completed in eighteen ninety-four, it was initially intended to serve as the Swiss National Museum before that role was awarded to Zurich. The structure is built in a revivalist style, drawing inspiration from fifteenth and sixteenth-century castles to house a vast collection that now spans over half a million objects, ranging from prehistoric findings to tapestries seized after the defeat of Duke Charles the Bold in fourteen seventy-seven.