On this short tour, you will not only air your head and stretch your muscles, but also get to know the town of Thun a little.
You will have the opportunity to stroll through the streets of the old town, enter the courtyard of the castle, and see the town from above.
To start, cross the historic wooden bridge from 1726 (Scherzligschleuse) and take a short walk along the promenade by the river Aaare. From here you have a fantastic view of the snow-capped peaks of the Alps.
The trail continues upwards, above the town, through wooded areas. There are several viewpoints along this section, from where you can see the surrounding area magnificently from above.
Already descending through residential areas, head towards the castle. In its courtyard, there is a restaurant where you can relax and soak up the atmosphere of the place.
The castle looks beautiful from a distance, while up close its height is impressive. Standing at the walls, you have to tilt your head back a lot to see its turrets.
Thun Castle
It was built in 1190 by Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen. At that time it reached the level of the knights’ hall. When the ducal dynasty died out in 1218, the castle fell to the heirs, the Counts of Kyburg. It was they who raised its storeys. Today, the five floors of the castle house the historical museum.
The history of the Kyburg family at Thun Castle was quite turbulent. Initially, the problem was the lack of a male descendant, which could have led to the loss of the family estate. It was the young Anna, daughter of the count, who benefited from this and inherited the entire estate in 1264.
Fratricide at Thun Castle
Fate can be fickle, however, as years later it turned out that two male descendants in the Kyburg family were also too many.
The grandsons of heiress Anna quarrelled over the inheritance. Prince Eberhard II, for whom the family had planned a career path in an ecclesiastical institution, had greater ambitions and in the dispute injured his elder brother Hartmann II. It is said that Eberhard II’s followers threw the wounded man from the knights’ hall into the courtyard, where he gave up the ghost.
In order to prevent the murdered man’s henchmen from taking over the estate, Eberhard II sold the castle and the town in 1323 to the authorities in Bern. The condition was that he be given a fief over the area.
As you may have guessed, Eberhard II did not make a career as a clergyman. And the Kyburg family tried hard over the following centuries to preserve its wealth and influence.
After exploring the walls of Thun Castle, it was still a short walk along the promenade by the river and back to the present day.
