What is the capital of Switzerland?

The city of Bern is located in the Canton of Bern (one of the Swiss member states). It's the capital of the country and the fourth most populous city of it. Approximately 141 thousand people live there nowadays. They mostly speak Bernese German, a German dialect. The official language of the city is, nevertheless, the Swiss variety of German (more similar to standard German).

The most popular cities of the country are Geneva and Zurich, but Bern is also an actively visited place. It is considered to be one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world. The old part of the city is a place of a great historical interest.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

Test your knowledge

What are your thoughts on this subject?

44 Comments

Herman Mittelholzer

The question would have been more cleverly couched if the options had been Geneva, Basel, Zürich or Bern, instead of three cities obviously not even in Switzerland.

Bernd Rittersporn

Yes, the criticisms make sense. It's true that Bern is the De Jure capital, but most Swiss Citizens will tell you it is the capital. I purposefully chose other cities that were not in Switzerland because I was curious to see how this would work with a largely American audience. I had noticed a wide-spread confusion among Americans between Sweden and Switzerland, and I wondered whether my personal experience would be reflected in a wider population.

Herman Mittelholzer

James Murphy Possibly because much of the quizz audience is from the US, with little or no real general knowledge other that that which is based in North America. :-(

Stephen W. Gerrard

Herman Mittelholzer, I thought the exact same thing. Surprised at how many participants are geographically challenged.

Francie Carlson

Switzerland has no capitol.

zolnem

Having said all that, nowhere is it stipulated that Bern is in fact the official capital of Switzerland. Two laws – Article 32External link of the Act on the Federal Assembly and Article 58External link of the Government and Administration Organisation Act – mention simply that “The Federal Assembly meets in Bern” and “The official seat of the Federal Council, the departments and the Federal Chancellery is the City of Bern”. In practice, however, with the presence of parliament, government and foreign embassies, Bern is well and truly the capital of Switzerland.

Brian Reynolds

Here we go again. Do the people who regularly write this same question ever read the comments from those who participate, apparently not. For the umpteenth time Switzerland does not have a capital, it is made up of a number of autonomous Cantons who share various Jurisdictions.

Stephen Henderson

Alan Waites, You forgot Lilly

tbear

Kevin Moor, be nice! 😊

Doris Dallaire

The only city in Switzerland.

Alan Waites

OH BEJESUS we have another Carol Brian Zain on our hands

Angel Palacios Zea

Herman Mittelholzer is right

Peter de Loriol

A capital has the Legislative, jurisdictional and political seats of power. Bern has some but not all. It is de facto capital but not de jure. Switzerland is one of the few countries where the seats og governmental power are spread between cities, on purpose- so there is , technically, no real capital of Switzerland