Who remembers the Emmental commercial with Matthias Sempach and actor Marcus Signer for the ESAF from last year? In the hazy background a row of decorated bells can be seen under a wooden eaves. But it is not an artificial backdrop, but Sempach’s Schwingerstübli. This was built by the woodworker Hans Eberhart from Worber. BERN-OST was allowed to accompany him on a visit to the 2013 wrestling king.
For a long time, Hans Eberhart had in mind to freshen up the oak tables in Matthias Sempach’s Schwingerstübli. That’s why he visited Sempach’s farm in Vorderbrunnen in Entlebuch (LU) at the end of March and invited BERN-OST to accompany him there. Three years ago, following six months of planning, he and fellow woodworker René Willener completely remodeled the original two rooms. Sempach wanted to display his swing trophies and receive guests in it.
For the conversion, Sempach was looking for suitable specialists in his area. “My wife is Mättu’s cousin,” says Eberhart, who has his workshop in Rüfenacht and lives in Worb. Through this family connection, he has already received smaller orders for Sempach. Willener was the founder and president of Sempach’s now-defunct fan club. Eberhart and Willener, on the other hand, knew each other from their training. “René was my head teacher when I was an apprentice,” says Eberhart. After completing their apprenticeships, they continued to work together. “We have the same philosophy and understand each other blindly in construction,” says Willener. His name should be familiar to wrestling fans because he reports on the wrestling festivals for the Wochen-Zeitung and the BZ-Ticker and can often be found at these.
Who was the construction manager?
When you enter the Schwingerstübli, everything seems to be of one piece. You are surrounded by comfortable wood, the room exudes cosiness. Everywhere there are structural details, bells, wreaths and photos from Sempach’s wrestling career.
However, according to Sempach, Eberhart and Willener, not everything was planned from the start as it looks now. And Sempach describes how the planning went a little differently than the one writing here heard from the two craftsmen on the way to Entlebuch. The three agree that Sempach initially wanted simple adjustments to the existing premises, but in the end everything was completely redone and everyone is satisfied with the result. In between it sounds something like this:
Sempach, with a provocatively ironic undertone: “Housi and René have the feeling that they had the ideas.” Whereupon those named laugh out loud. Sempach, seriously: «Yes, that there [zeigt auf die Wand, vor der die Treichlen hängen] looks like a hayloft was my idea.» Willener laughing: “Not even maybe.”
Or:
Sempach, with a wink, in the knowledge of the following reaction: “I was the site manager.” The other two laugh once more. On the way there, they explained that they had known from the beginning that they would eventually do everything once more. They always built a corner and then convinced Sempach of their ideas for the next construction phase.
That’s what vacations were for
Be that as it may, the three of them amuse themselves over these points of discussion. “It was a fun time,” says Eberhart regarding the project. It took much longer than intended. Willener quit his job with the idea of being able to build the Schwingerstübli before taking up the new position. “In the end, I needed the whole vacation from the first year of the new job for it,” he says. But adds: “It was a matter of the heart.” Thanks to the long planning, they would have avoided quick shots, says Sempach. «It was good. We got the maximum out of it.”
You can tell that a lot of time was put into the design of the Schwingerstübli. For example, ingenious details such as a hidden refrigerator where guests can get drinks, the large screen and fireplace built into the wall, or the automatic sliding door to the kitchen, which is very practical when serving.
A piece of Bernese homeland in the Entlebuch
The materials in the room are also carefully selected. The wood comes from the Rieder wood works in St. Stephan, where a colleague of Sempach works. “It’s mountain wood of fine quality,” says Eberhart. It has been artificially aged in the factory by steaming. So it looks like antique wood, but without worms and their holes.
The fact that the wood comes from the canton of Bern is important to the homesick Bernese Sempach. The Schwingerstübli is also in the typical Bernese style in terms of construction. “I enjoy the carvings,” says Sempach. He particularly likes the carved saying above a window in the room: “Winger friends cheret y, here’s a place for cozy sy”. “The saying fits, because swinging is still important in my life,” says Sempach, who gave his resignation in 2018.
No forest of wreaths in the Schwingerstübli
The memorabilia of Sempach’s active time are also selected. According to the woodworkers, there should initially be room for all of the more than 100 wreaths and all the bells in the approximately 40 square meter room. Nine bells now hang on the back wall under a shingle roof that roofers who were friends with Sempach built. And in a separate corner in the front area of the Stübli hangs the Treichle from the federal in Burgdorf from 2013, when Sempach became the wrestler king. Next to it are photos of the competition.
Sempach only hung up five of the wreaths: those of his four federal wrestling festivals and those of his 100th wrestling festival. There are also three large pictures in the room, two of Burgdorf and one of Kilchberg Schwinget. And above the fireplace is the skull of the winning muni from Burgdorf. It is now a good mixture and not overloaded, says Sempach. “The room is reminiscent of my wrestling days, but it’s not a museum.”
Feel-good and film location
Sempach likes to be in his Schwingerstübli. “I feel good here,” he says. He uses the room with his family, for example on birthdays or Christmas, for training courses, meetings and aperitifs, or rents it out to acquaintances. He also receives press representatives for interviews and shoots videos for his Instagram channel in it – at his favorite place in the corner under the bells. And he uses it as a filming location for his sponsors’ advertisements.
“If the Schwingerstübli appears in a commercial, that’s good,” says Eberhart. It was a nice assignment, and only a year following he had set up his own business. He and Willener also appear to have achieved their ultimate goal. However, this is not to have built the Schwingerstübli according to your ideas, but: “You should simply feel good, despite the limited space.”
[i] Eberhart timber construction
