Pedestrian access to the Centre is a key priority. A network of paths and streets with evocative names such as “es promeniert” (It promenades), “Familienspaziergang” (Family Walk), “nur auf Umwegen” (Only with Detours), “Teppich der Erinnerung” (Carpet of Remembrance) or “Wurm am Weg” (A Worm by the Wayside) are to link the Zentrum Paul Klee with the old city centre of Bern to the west.

And we owe it to an initiative of the City of Bern Local Council that just under two dozen hitherto largely unnamed paths and streets in the area surrounding the Zentrum Paul Klee have been named after the titles of works by Klee. After preliminary work by a three-member street-naming committee (Emil Erne, municipal archivist; Peter Betts, Head of the Cultural Affairs Department; Thomas Hardmeier, municipal surveyor), the Bern Local Council decided in 2002 to name 18 access paths and roads to the Zentrum Paul Klee after the title of works by the artist. The street-naming project by Bern’s Local Council is unique in its kind in Switzerland.

Journeys of discovery with Klee
The fantasy names of the paths not only make you curious to find out more about the 4,400 works in the Klee collection at the Zentrum Paul Klee, they also honour the genius of the artist for whom Bern was his home.

When you now approach the Zentrum Paul Klee from the south-west, you walk from the Egelsee (“Schreiten und Gleiten” / Striding and gliding; “es promeniert” / It promenades; “warum zu Fuss?” / Why on foot) through Wyssloch (“Familienspaziergang” / Family walk; “nur auf Umwegen” / Only with detours) to the Centre’s southern entrance.

To the north the cemetery path has become Insula dulcamara, the remodelled square at the bridgehead to Undo-endo. New footpaths at Schosshaldenstrasse (“gehobener Horizont” / Elevated horizon) and along the motorway (“unheile Eile” / Harmful haste) complement the northern access.

“Radwahn” (Wheel mania) is the name of the new footpath and cycle lane in front of the Zentrum Paul Klee, while the “Feld-rhÿthmen” (Rhythms of the fields) path forms an arc around the three hills of the Landscape Sculpture. The “Luft-Station” (Air-station) gives its name to the viewing point behind Schosshalden cemetery. Finally the previously nameless paths in the Schosshalden woods have been given new life thanks to Paul Klee’s new word creations (“statt Beinen Flügel” / Wings instead of legs; “was alles wächst!” / How everything grows!; “mehr Vogel” / More bird; “Wurm am Weg” / A worm by the wayside; “Teppich der Erinnerung” / Carpet of Remembrance.

Even the Zentrum Paul Klee itself owes its address to the watercolour Monument im Fruchtland, 1929, 41 (Monument in the fertile country).

So you’re warmly invited to a journey of discovery through Paul Klee’s language universe!

A close-up look at the Schritte für Klee (Steps for Klee)
The brochure entitled Schritte für Klee which was jointly published by the Bern Local Council in 2002, the Maurice E. and Martha Müller Foundation (MMMF) and the Zentrum Paul Klee, contains the 18 drawings, watercolours and paintings by Paul Klee whose titles were chosen for the names of the paths, as well as an overview of the renamed streets and paths and information on the Zentrum Paul Klee.