Thorberg Castle

Of the castle of the von Thorberg family, first documented in 1175, there remain only fragments of the foundations of the tower.

In 1805 the former almshouse, which had provided shelter for the aged poor, was put to use as a reformatory, model school and ancillary (or overflow) lunatic asylum.

The opening of the psychiatric clinic at Waldau near Bern made it possible to close the ancillary asylum in 1855.

[1] In 1893 a newly built cell block was opened as a prison; various other extensions were added during the 20th century, most recently in 1998.

A figure of the "Man of Sorrows" by the sculptor Erhart Küng, master of works at the Berner Münster, formerly belonging to the charterhouse, is today kept in the Historisches Museum Bern.