Kleine Schanze, Park and cultural site in central Bern, Switzerland

Kleine Schanze is a converted fortification next to the Federal Palace with green spaces, walking paths, and seating areas. The site offers views of the Alps and the surrounding city landscape from multiple vantage points.

The Kleine Schanze consists of the Wächter bastion, completed in 1623 as part of Bern's last city fortification. Around 1817 it was rebuilt as a landscaped promenade, the first garden conversion of a Baroque fortification in Switzerland. Around 1875 the grounds were substantially redesigned and enlarged, and from 2013 to 2014 the high retaining wall beneath the Europapromenade, a remnant of the old fortification wall, was restored.

The name distinguishes the Kleine Schanze from the larger Grosse Schanze nearby; the smaller site is formed by the Wächter bastion, completed in 1623. Since the 1980s the area beside the Federal Palace has been a public meeting point, after a drug scene expelled from the Münsterplattform gathered here until police cleared it at Christmas 1990.

The park lies directly beside the Federal Palace and is reached on foot from Federal Square. A high retaining wall from the old fortification runs beneath the Europapromenade. The grounds were comprehensively renovated until September 2025, so some paths and lawns may be freshly laid out.

The Kleine Schanze is listed in Bern's building inventory as a protected ensemble and is also covered by the federal ISOS inventory as part of the Bahnhof- und Bundeshausquartier. Its roughly 16,700 m² park parcel, no. 1516, belongs to the city of Bern. The site was comprehensively renovated until September 2025.