Bern.

This 16th-century fountain on Kornhausplatz has Bern’s most unsettling sculpted figure: an ogre eating a child. It is a brief but unusually detailed Old City stop.

The sculpture rewards a slow look beyond its shocking central image. More children sit in the ogre’s sack, while a band of armed bears circles the base, including a piper and drummer. The meaning of the ogre remains debated, so the visible details are more reliable than any single interpretation.

• The seated ogre holds a child and has more children in a sack beside him.
• Armed bears, including a piper and drummer, circle the fountain base.

Walk around the fountain to see the bear frieze beneath the main figure.

Pair it with Kornhausplatz and nearby Zytglogge on an Old City walk.