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Basel (Bâle) |
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With both a gigantic river-port on the Rhine - Switzerland's only
outlet to the sea - and the research headquarters of several
pharmaceutical multinationals, BASEL (Bâle in French), nurtures a
reputation as Switzerland's wealthiest city. Its medieval past is
endowed with some of the greatest minds of European history, including
Erasmus, Zwingli, and later Nietzsche and Hesse, and its long-standing
patronage of the arts has resulted in a panoply of first-rate museums
and galleries. However, it's almost as if Baslers lost the plot when it
came to defining their city for today. You might expect it, situated
exactly where Switzerland, Germany and France touch noses, to hum with
pan-European energy, but the close proximity of foreign languages and
cultures has introverted the city rather than energized it: Basel's a
curiously measured place, where equilibrium is everything. You won't
find anyone shouting about the new Europe here; in fact, you're unlikely
to find anyone shouting about anything at all. Even the city's massive
carnival is a rigorously organized set-piece.
The City
Basel's old town lies to the north of the main train station . It
revolves around the photogenic main square Barfüsserplatz , ringed by
higgledy-piggledy medieval buildings, where the city's cultural pre-eminence
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is amply demonstrated in the
bare-footed Franciscans' splendid Barfüsserkirche, which is now home to
the Historisches Museum (Mon & Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; Sfr5, free on first Sun
of month; www.historischesmuseumbasel.ch ); don't miss the sumptuous
medieval tapestries, hidden behind protective blinds. Shop-lined
Gerbergasse and Freiestrasse run north from the square to Marktplatz,
which boasts the elaborate scarlet facade of the Rathaus (Town Hall),
the central section of which is sixteenth-century. Just beyond
Marktplatz is Schifflände , site of the main tourist office and from
where boats depart regularly on journeys up and down the Rhine (
www.bpg.ch ). Alongside is the Mittlere Brücke , which for many
centuries was the only bridge across the Rhine between its source and
the sea. The working-class quarter across the river, known as Kleinbasel,
was traditionally the object of scorn for the cosmopolitan merchants of
the city centre: their Lällekönig bust still faces down the bridge,
sticking out its tongue at the Kleinbaslers.
From Barfüsserplatz, Steinenberg climbs south past the Kunsthalle (Tues-Sun
11am-5pm, Wed until 8.30pm; Sfr9; www.kunsthallebasel.ch ), with quality
contemporary art shows, to a junction; head left to the superb Greek and
Etruscan pottery and Egyptian antiquities in the Antikenmuseum , St
Alban-Graben 5 (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; Sfr5, free on first Sun of month;
www.antikenmuseumbasel.ch ). Opposite is the absorbing Kunstmuseum , St
Alban-Graben 16 (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; Sfr7, joint admission with Museum
für Gegenwartskunst; free on first Sun of month; www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch
). Its dazzling array of twentieth-century art, including paintings by
Léger, Chagall, Munch, Braque and the Impressionists, is surpassed by a
medieval collection featuring roomfuls of works by the prolific Holbein
family. Down to the river, then right, is the Museum für Gegenwartskunst
(Contemporary Art; Tues-Sun 11am-5pm; Sfr7, joint admission with
Kunstmuseum; www.mgkbasel.ch ), St Alban-Rheinweg 60, with installations
by Frank Stella and Joseph Beuys sharing space with video art. A walk
away on the north bank, in Solitude Park, is the beautifully designed
Museum Jean Tinguely (Wed-Sun 11am-7pm; Sfr7; www.tinguely.ch ),
dedicated to one of Switzerland's best-loved artists. Tinguely's Monty-Pythonesque
moving mechanical sculptures made of scrap are endearing and quite
unique, and though most are imbued with an irreverent sense of humour,
some, such as the Mengele-Dance of Death , are darkly apocalyptic. A
Tinguely fountain spits and burbles outside the Kunsthalle.
Sixteenth-century Rittergasse leads from the Kunstmuseum up to the
impressive red sandstone Münster overlooking the Rhine (Easter-Oct Mon-Sat
10am-4/5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Oct-Easter Mon-Sat 11am-4pm, Sun 2-4pm). Medieval
stone carving above the main portal shows the cathedral's founder,
Emperor Heinrich II, holding a model of the church; beside him is a
Foolish Virgin. Inside, in the north aisle, is the tomb of the
Renaissance humanist Erasmus, who lived in Basel from 1521 until his
death in 1536. The ninth-century remains of an earlier cathedral can be
seen in the crypt, and the large adjoining cloisters are memorably
atmospheric.
Basel's finest gallery is Fondation Beyeler (daily 10am-6pm, Wed until
8pm; Sfr12; www.beyeler.com ; tram #6 to Riehen Dorf from Barfüsserplatz),
sympathetically designed by Renzo Piano, architect of Paris's Pompidou
Centre. A small but exceptionally high-quality collection features some
of the best works by Picasso, Giacometti, Rothko, Rodin, Bacon, Miró and
others. Sink into a huge white sofa opposite a giant Monet, where piped
Debussy (daily at 1pm) fuels dreamy contemplation of the waterlilies.
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