Thoune.

Title

Thoune.

Description

Splendidly gouached view of the town of Thun on the Aare with its castle and the church on the castle hill. The town of Thun is located in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

ca. 1850

Artist

Leuthold

Historical Description

When Thun was granted the title of King of Burgundy, it was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, there was a church and a castle on the Schlossberg and a settlement with a river crossing on the Aare. Towards the middle of the 12th century, the area belonged to the Zähringen rectorate of Burgundy. When the Zähringen dynasty died out in 1218, the eastern Swiss Counts of Kyburg inherited the town. In the 12th and 13th centuries, there were also two noble families who called themselves von Thun. Thun was granted town charter in 1264. In the 16th century, trade and commerce flourished in Thun. The town became a regional market center. A new town hall with a department store on the first floor was built in the middle of the town and a large market square, the Rindermarkt, was created in front of it. The Reformation took place in Thun around 1528. The archive tower, which served as a treasury and armory, was built in 1585. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town continued to develop and the first attempts were made to introduce industry. However, Thun always remained a regional economic center. At the beginning of the 19th century, a new era began with the emergence of tourism and the opening of the Federal Military School in 1819. With the construction of hotels and guesthouses and the opening of steamboats on Lake Thun in 1835, Thun became an important tourist destination. Over the course of time, the military school developed into Switzerland's largest military base and also brought federal military operations to the town in 1861/1863. The industrialist Gustav Selve opened a factory in Thun in 1895 to manufacture ammunition pellets.