In search of the traditional laying of the foundation stone at the NL

When constructing a building, an age-old custom is still practiced in many places: after digging out the foundation pit, a foundation stone is laid in a ceremonial event. The stone often contains a time capsule with documents from that period. These capsules are meant to be opened after many years but sometimes become forgotten.

The inscription on this floor slab made of grey mottled stone commemorates the laying of the foundation stone by Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss on 18 July 1995. — Foundation stone in the 8th subterranean level of the East Underground Repository (photo: NL, Simon Schmid)

The tradition of laying foundation stones has been practiced worldwide since biblical times. It is therefore surprising that the Swiss National Library (NL) – an institution dedicated to preserving historical memory – is housed in a building that was constructed from 1929-1931 without a foundation stone. This oversight suggests that this still-living tradition was not highly valued during the emergence of architectural modernism.

Correcting an oversight

Some 60 years later, the book tower – where the stacks were originally located – was bursting at the seams, and the construction of the first underground repository for the Swiss National Library was approved. The excavation right next to the existing building required extensive measures to support the foundation pit. Diaphragm walls were erected and then held in place by hundreds of grouted anchors. It was only possible to excavate an additional layer of soil once the anchors were positioned on one level of the pit.

In July 1995, it became the deepest and most voluminous foundation pit that had ever been dug out in the city of Bern at that time, forming a yawning chasm 26 metres deep. The moment had come for laying the foundation stone – roughly coinciding with the peak of the centennial year for the Swiss National Library.

A celebratory act...

The image shows the lowest four stairs of a dark grey metal staircase leading to the foundation stone. The glass surface of the stairs appears bright blue in photographer’s light. — A stairway in the East Underground Repository leads to the eighth underground level, where the foundation stone can be found (photo: NL, Simon Schmid).

The ceremony took place on 18 July 1995, with the participation of Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss, who was then Minister of the Interior and thus also the highest-ranked library boss. In her speech, she addressed the library's current and future mission.

Instead of following the usual custom of using a mason's trowel to lay the foundation stone, Dreifuss did something else entirely. She was tasked with creating the indentation for the foundation stone in the foundation pit – not with a pickaxe and shovel, but in a much more spectacular way. The architect involved in the construction, Kurt Gossenreiter, had the unusual idea of suspending an approximately two-metre-long chrome steel arrow from the hook of the construction crane.

...with a bang

Dreifuss pressed a button to detonate fireworks that blasted the arrow off the hook, causing it to fall into the pit and bore into the ground. To the amusement of everyone present, the resulting hole filled with smoke, as project manager Horst Knaupp from the then Federal Construction Office (FCO)vividly recalls. This arrow is now stored in a wooden box on the top floor of the East Underground Repository.

In media reports about the event, Dreifuss's splinted right foot didn't go unmentioned – she had broken her ankle during the Federal Council's annual excursion at the end of June. The foundation stone ceremony was also attended by David Streiff (Director of the Federal Office of Culture), Willy Treichler (Project Manager Users), Paul Rieben from the Civil Construction Coordination Centre of the Federal Finance Administration, as well as representatives from the Andreas Furrer and Partner architectural consortium, Kurt Gossenreiter and Schenker Stuber von Tscharner Architects.

The secret under the stone

Foundation stones can be invisibly embedded in the foundation or building base; they are only unearthed when the building is demolished. Foundation stones are sometimes also visibly embedded in the masonry. The foundation stone of the NL's East Underground Repository is a floor plate with the following inscription:

This foundation stone was laid
on 18 July 1995
by Federal Councillor
Ruth Dreifuss

This speckled stone slab is set in a metal frame and forms the lid of a time capsule, which contains a range of typical items: current daily newspapers, construction plans and project documentation from the Office for Federal Buildings as well as a copy of a two-volume publication entitled “Die Schweizerische Landesbibliothek in Bern. Renovation und Erweiterung 1994-2001 und Einweihung am 31. Oktober 1931 (Reprint)”. It is up to future generations to decide when the foundation stone and time capsule will be opened.