page_title: Zytglogge
section_title: External structure
hierarchical_section_title: Zytglogge / Exterior / External structure
caption_attribution_description: Zytglogge tower in Bern, Switzerland. Architectural detail: wooden Gothic cornice and decorative plating.
context_page_description: The Zytglogge is a landmark medieval tower in Bern, Switzerland. Built in the early 13th century, it has served the city as guard tower, prison, clock tower, centre of urban life and civic memorial.
  Despite the many redecorations and renovations it has undergone in its 800 years of existence, the Zytglogge is one of Bern's most recognisable symbols and the oldest monument of the city, and with its 15th-century astronomical clock, a major tourist attraction. It is a heritage site of national significance, and part of the Old City of Bern, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.
context_section_description: The Zytglogge has an overall height of 54.5 metres (179 ft), and a height of 24 metres (79 ft) up to the roof-edge. Its rectangular floor plan measures 11.2 by 10.75 metres (36.7 by 35.3 ft). The wall strengths vary widely, ranging from 260 centimetres (100 in) in the west, where the tower formed part of the city walls, to 65 centimetres (26 in) in the east.
  The outward appearance of the Zytglogge is determined by the 1770 renovation. Only the late Gothic cornice below the roof and the stair tower are visible artifacts of the tower's earlier history.
  The main body of the tower is divided into the two-storey plinth, whose exterior is made of alpine limestone, and the three-storey tower shaft sheathed in sandstone. The shaft's seemingly massive corner blocks are decorative fixtures held in place by visible iron hooks. Below the roof, the cornice spans around the still-visible bases of the former corner towerlets. The two-story attic is covered by  the sweeping, red-tiled, late Gothic spire, in which two spire lights are set to the West and East. They are crowned by ornamental urns with pinecone knobs reconstructed in 1983 from 18th-century drawings.
  From atop the spire, the  wooden pinnacle, copper-sheathed since 1930, rises an additional 15 metres (49 ft) into the skies, crowned with a gilded knob and a weather vane displaying a cut-out coat of arms of Bern.
caption: Detail: wooden Gothic whisker cornice, corner towerlet base and decorative plating.
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