Salve Helvetiae! - Curia Confoederationis Helveticae

The Scene:

 

The Federal Palace of Switzerland (German: Bundeshaus, French: Palais fédéral, Italian: Palazzo federale; Latin: Curia Confoederationis Helveticae) is the name of the building in Bern in which the Swiss Federal Assembly (federal parliament) and the Federal Council are housed.

 

The building was designed by the architect Hans Auer and its inauguration took place on 1 April 1902. The total cost, at the time, was 7,198,000 Swiss Francs.

 

The two chambers where the National Council and the Council of States meet are separated by the Hall of the Dome. The dome itself has an external height of 64 m, and an internal height of 33 m. The mosaic in the center represents the Federal coat of arms along with the Latin motto Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno (One for all, and all for one), surrounded by the coat of arms of the 22 cantons that existed in 1902. The coat of arms of the Canton of Jura, created in 1979, was placed outside of the mosaic.

 

The name in German means "federal house", whereas the French and Italian names both translate to "Federal Palace".

 

In case you didn't know, the Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state.While the entire council is responsible for leading the federal administration of Switzerland, each Councillor heads one of the seven federal executive departments. While the Federal council does have a President (who is elected by the Federal Assembly for a term of 1 year), the President has no powers above the other Councillors and continues to head their department. Traditionally the duty rotates among the members in order of seniority and the previous year's Vice President becomes President.As first among equals, the Federal Council member serving as President of the Confederation is not considered the Swiss head of State. Rather, the entire Federal Council is considered a collective Head of State.

 

The Story:

 

We reached from Jungfrau a little early, thanks to the fiery clouds that engulfed the peaks eating up the blue sky. As there wasnt much to shoot around in Latterbrunnen, I initially thought of taking a stroll around Interlaken and admire nature. It then occured that if I was to catch the next IC towards Bern, I could well be in the city for the blue hour. I had read about the teeny tiny old city of Bern - in all, it takes only about 40 minutes to cover the whole thing. 20 minutes in, I stumbled upon the federal palace. There was no more moving back - kids playing around the fountain and the lighting on the building made me admire the architecture (not to mention that the toll that Jungfrau took on my body :P), sit and wait for that right time to make this shot.

 

The Shot:

 

Again, the magic of the Canon 10-22. ISO 100 | 13mm | f/18 | 20 sec