Bern — Capital of Switzerland

Bern holds a curious distinction among European capitals: Switzerland officially has no capital city. Bern is designated the country's 'federal city' (Bundesstadt), the seat of the federal government, but the Swiss constitution deliberately avoids naming it the capital — a reflection of the country's fiercely decentralised, canton-based political identity. The Federal Palace (Bundeshaus), overlooking the Aare river bend that nearly encircles the Old City, houses both chambers of the Swiss parliament.

The city was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen. According to legend, he vowed to name the new settlement after the first animal he hunted — which turned out to be a bear (Bär in German). Whether or not the story is true, Bern has embraced the bear wholeheartedly: bears appear on the city's coat of arms, and a Bear Park on the banks of the Aare has housed live bears since the 16th century. The name 'Bern' is now inseparable from its ursine symbol.

Bern's Old City is one of Europe's best-preserved medieval town centres and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its most remarkable feature is nearly 6 kilometres of covered arcaded walkways — known as Lauben — that line the streets at ground-floor level, allowing pedestrians to walk through the entire historic centre protected from rain and snow. These arcades, largely unchanged since the 15th century, give Bern an atmosphere unlike any other city. The Zytglogge, a 13th-century astronomical clock tower, marks the western gateway of the medieval city; mechanical figures emerge and perform at each hour.

Between 1902 and 1909, a young patent clerk named Albert Einstein lived and worked in Bern. During his time here, he produced the papers of his 1905 'miracle year' — including the Special Theory of Relativity, the photoelectric effect (for which he later won the Nobel Prize), and the mass-energy equivalence expressed as E=mc². The Einstein Museum in Bern preserves this legacy. Switzerland itself presents further curiosities: it joined the United Nations only in 2002, maintained strict neutrality since the Congress of Vienna in 1815, is not a member of the EU, and has four official languages — German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Its seven-member Federal Council operates with a rotating annual presidency, so Switzerland effectively has a different head of state every year.