The rich artistic decoration whose symbolism is based on the history, constitutional foundations and cultural diversity of Switzerland, as well as stone used from all parts of the country, underline the character of the parliament building as a national monument.

The old University Hospital of Bern, built between 1718 and 1724 according to plans by the baroque master Franz Beer, stood on the site of today's Federal Palace East.

When the hospital was demolished in 1888, the remains of the walls of the medieval monastery St. Michael zur Insel also revealed a Jewish tombstone, and another in 1901 when the Bundesplatz was created.

The federal government lacked the authority to construct its own buildings, but this decision accelerated the political disempowerment of the civic community by liberal forces.

In a desire to avoid burdening Bern's citizens with extra loans and special taxes, the tender was deliberately thrifty and focused on cost savings.

[6][7] The official jury consisted of the architects Melchior Berri, Ludwig Friedrich Osterrieth, Robert Roller and Gustav Albert Wegmann [de], as well as the building inspector Bernhard Wyss.

The jury awarded three further prizes: second place went to Felix Wilhelm Kubly [de], third to Johann Carl Dähler, and fourth to Jean Franel.

A special jury appointed by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects [de] (SIA), but which had no influence on the project, judged the three first-place designs in reverse order of precedence.

Kubly recognized that, unlike previous new European parliament buildings, two equal councils had to be considered and therefore abandoned the overly dominant semicircle in favor of two rectangular halls.

On 23 June 1851, the Bern City Council decided to commission the master builder Jakob Friedrich Studer [de] to prepare a new design.

August Hövemeyer [de] and his brother Ludwig painted four allegorical murals in the National Council Chamber and added ornamental designs.

In 1861, the cantons donated coat-of-arms panels for the Council of States Hall, but these were removed just ten years later due to unfavorable lighting conditions.

[16] A project by Frank Buchser did not come to fruition: the victory of the Northern states in the American Civil War had triggered a wave of sympathy rallies in Switzerland.

At the end of 1865, Buchser planned a mural in the National Council Chamber depicting the most important American personalities of the time, which was intended to express Switzerland's solidarity with the United States.

In this respect, the new Federal Palace East was to be a compact, modest administrative wing and the parliament building was to have the form of a strictly classical Greek round temple.

In accordance with the prevailing architectural theory of the time, which was largely influenced by Gottfried Semper, the jury criticized Auer's symmetry as functionally incomprehensible.

It passed over Bluntschli on the grounds that the competition was primarily concerned with the basic disposition; the design of the parliament building would be decided on at a later date.

At the express wish of the Federal Council, the jury was international, comprising Léo Châtelain, Ernst Jung, Hans Konrad Pestalozzi [de] (National Councillor and Mayor of Zurich), Heinrich Reese (Building Inspector of the Canton of Basel-Stadt), Friedrich Wüest (National Councillor and Mayor of Lucerne), and Arnold Flückiger (Director of Federal Buildings).

[31] Auer created a Swiss national monument with a rich and symbolic iconography depicting the history, constitutional foundations, and activities of the country's inhabitants.

It has since housed a library for use by employees of the federal administration and members of parliament, which is not open to the public except for special occasions, for security reasons.

In 1965, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation began operating radio and television transmissions on the third floor above the Council of States hall, which required the installation of a massive, wide-span concrete ceiling.

Massive historic preservation and urban planning concerns were however raised against the project,[38] and it was abandoned by the National Council on 17 March 1993 at the request of the Parliamentary Reform Commission, on the grounds of the federal government's poor financial situation.

Parliamentarians complained about the lack of rooms for meetings and secretariats, and that their individual workplaces were located too far away from the council chambers on the top floor of the Federal Palace East.

To this end, a new media center was built between October 2003 and May 2006 in the buildings at Bundesgasse 8-12 (located opposite the Federal Palace West); the construction and equipping costs amounted to 42.5 million francs.

The lunette windows (lit in the back by skylights) were also opened, interior walls cleaned, cracks repaired, and recent furnishings removed, transforming the domed hall once again into a bright daylight space .

The hall is dominated by the sculpture The Three Confederates (Die drei Eidgenossen) created by James André Vibert and referring to the legendary oath to fight for Switzerland (Rütlischwur).

The roof edge is topped by Auguste de Niederhäusern-Rodo's allegorical sculpture of Helvetia representing independence (center), with the executive on her left, and the legislature on her right.

[51] To mark the 175th anniversary of the Swiss Federal Constitution, the work of art "Tilo",[52] installed on the tympanum of the Parliament building, was inaugurated on 12 September 2023.

The work was designed by the artist duo Renée Levi and Marcel Schmid, and implemented by hand by a ceramics manufacturer in Sarnen.

[53] As reported in a study by the Federal parliamentary services (Parlamentsdienste), the noise caused by human activities in the chamber of the National Council is clearly too loud.