Swiss National Library, National library in Bern, Switzerland

The Swiss National Library is a memory institution in central Bern that collects and preserves over five million documents. The building, with its clear modernist design, houses books, journals, newspapers, maps, and official publications that document the written heritage of the country.

The Zurich dialectologist Friedrich Staub initiated the library in 1891, and on 28 June 1894 the Swiss parliament approved its creation to collect all Helvetica. It began work in 1895 and opened to the public in 1899 in the Federal Archives building. In 1931 it moved to the New Objectivity building on Hallwylstrasse, which is a listed historic monument.

The library's journal Quarto, published once or twice a year, devotes each issue to one of Switzerland's four literatures — German, French, Italian and Romansh. The Swiss Literary Archives, established in 1998 and inspired by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, collect literary estates from all four language regions, and since 2011 also selected publishers' archives.

Entry is free and the building is centrally located in Bern, easy to reach by public transport. You can explore the spaces during weekday opening hours freely, though arranging ahead is helpful if you want to view specific collections.

The library holds the Claude Kuhn Archive, over 350 posters by the Bernese artist, within its Prints and Drawings department. Its poster collection documents Swiss poster production, and the Swiss Literary Archives, founded in 1991 on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's initiative, grew from the library's manuscript collection.