This town in Switzerland is obsessed with number ’11’
In the tiny Swiss town of Solothurn is 11 churches, 11 fountains, 11 towers, and 11 museums, and the city watch has only 11 digits. It is not a coincidence. Why already more than half a Millennium the city is obsessed with this number?
The number 11 can be found throughout the town of Solothurn, Switzerland.S Solothurn, founded by the Romans 2,000 years ago but forgotten by many visitors today due to its proximity to nearby capital Bern, is a town preoccupied with 11. This collective ranges from the 15th Century to today. Some are time-worn and antiquated, some – in the case of entering, Switzerland’s only museum devoted to computers and technology – are resolutely modern.
The reason what people says is that number 11 is alive in the magnificent heritage site at an almost inconceivable level. It was built, somewhat predictably, in 11 years, and conceived by Italian architect Gaetano Matteo Pisoni, who impregnated the building with a multitude of symbols and signs. Everyone in Solothurn knows this story, of course, but no-one can remember exactly how or why their hometown became so obsessed.
A far more reasonable explanation is the number’s biblical connotations, with many Solothurn inhabitants deeming 11 to be a ‘holy’ number and prophetic. Eleven represents the dream of trying to attain something better. For more than 500 years, Solothurn has developed an extraordinary alliance with the number 11. It is all too much to be an accident, and in the years to come, it may continue in the same way.
Courtesy: BBC
