Berengraben ( German: Bärengraben , Bear Ditch or Bear Pit, Fosse aux ours ) is a landmark of the Swiss capital Bern , a moat with a small park adjacent to it ( Bear Park , German Bärenpark Bern ) in the city center, on the opposite from the old town by the river Aare Bears live in Berengraben - the heraldic symbols of the city and canton of Bern .
Description
The moat has been known since 1441 [1] (this year the document on the purchase by the city of acorns for feed for bears was dated) and was originally located in the Old Town on the square, which is still called Bear ( Berenplatz ). The current place is the fourth (since 1857). In 1822, while traveling in Europe, the four-year-old Ivan Turgenev , who had fallen from the railing, nearly fell off the ditch; the boy was saved in time by the father who caught him by the leg. Turgenev subsequently spoke about this event in an autobiography of 1875 [2] .
In 1925, the moat was supplemented with a small trench for young animals. In 1975, at the request of animal rights activists, the living conditions of animals were significantly improved: the concrete floor was replaced with natural earthen, the number of bears was reduced, and the partitions inside the pit were removed. The last inhabitant of the old moat that did not have access to the river - the male Pedro - died in the spring of 2009.
In 2009, through the efforts of animal welfare advocates for bears, additional space was fenced off along the shore of the Aare (a decision on this was made back in 2004). The work caused public criticism and an official investigation due to a significant cost overrun in comparison with the allocated budget. The historical moat is also preserved and used by animals, it is connected to the riverbank by an underground passage. Visitors can watch bears from the Niedebbrücke bridge and from specially fenced terraces. Administratively, Bear Park is a separate part of the Delhölzli Zoo.
In September 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented Bern with two cubs, Misha and Masha, who, however, were not settled in the moat, but in the Delkholzli Zoo , which is located about 2 kilometers southwest [1] .
Since October 2009, Finn-born bear and Bear Björk from Denmark have been living in the new park. In December 2009, they had two cubs - Berna and Urs. By agreement with the city of Solothurn , whose heavenly protector is the martyr Urs Zoloturnsky (in Latin ursus - bear), one of the cubs born in Berengraben always receives the name "Urs" or "Ursina". In the fall of 2010, it turned out that Ursus was a female, and the beast was renamed Ursina [3] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 M.M. Pirogovskaya . Switzerland. M .: Poster, 2012
- ↑ I. S. Turgenev. Autobiography
- ↑ Doch kein Urs: beide Berner Jungbären sind weiblich
Links
- Wikimedia Commons has media files related to Berengraben