page_title: Zytglogge
section_title: Interior
hierarchical_section_title: Zytglogge / Interior
caption_attribution_description: English: East/West cutaway drawings of the Zytglogge tower in Berne, Switzerland after each of its main construction periods.
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's internal layout has changed over time to reflect the tower's change of purpose from guard tower to city prison to clock tower. The thirteenth-century guard tower was not much more than a hollow shell of walls that was open towards the city in the east. Only in the fourteenth century was a layer of four storeys inserted.
  The rooms above the clockwork mechanism were used by the city administration for various purposes up until the late 20th century, including as archives, storerooms, as a firehose magazine and even as an air raid shelter. The interior was frequently remodelled in a careless, even vandalistic fashion; for instance, all but three of the original wooden beams supporting the intermediate floors were destroyed. Since 1979, the tower's interior is empty again. It is only accessed for maintenance and in the course of regular guided tours.
caption: East/West cross section of the Zytglogge after each of its principal building phases and in 1979.[33]
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