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Sightseeing Overview
A city rich in history and culture Basel has a lot to offer visitors. It has one of the best preserved medieval Old Towns in Europe, and the dominant structure there is the city’s cathedral, the impressive Münster from the 13th and 14th centuries.

Of the city’s many museums, one of the most lively and fun is the Museum Tinguely, dedicated to the avant-garde painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely, who was born in Basel. One of his installations, the Tinguely Fountain, can be seen in front of

the Stadttheater.

Another excellent museum is the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland’s oldest art museum, with a vast collection of Renaissance and modern art.

If you fancy learning to make paper the old-fashioned way, the Basel Paper Museum is the place to go. It is located in a late-medieval paper mill and gives an insight into the history of paper making and printing - as well as the opportunity to make your own paper.

Not quite as old, but just as attractive, is the Basel Zoo, with its 6,000 different animals. The city’s Botanical Garden by the old Spalentor city gate is another lovely green space where locals and visitors alike can get close to nature and learn about the natural world.

Another art museum worth visiting is the Fondation Beyeler, a public home displaying a private art collection consisting of some 200 modern masterworks by some of the finest artists of the 20th century.

Over the last 20 years Basel has become an important center of modern architecture, and the Basel Architecture Museum gives a thorough and interesting introduction to the subject.

Tourist Information
Basel Tourismus
SBB Train Station
Tel: (061) 268 6868.
Website: www.baseltourismus.ch

There is also a tourist information service office in the Stadtcasino at the Barfüsserplatz. In both offices staff can assist visitors with the information and advice they need as tourists in Basel and also offer help with accommodation, bookings and tickets.

Passes
With the BaselCard visitors get free entrance to 25 museums and to the zoo as well as free city sightseeing tours and free ferry boat rides. In total there are 80 different offers and discount arrangements from which holders of the card can benefit. The card is available at the tourist information centers, at the airport and at some museums and hotels. It is available for 24, 48 and 72 hours.

Key Attractions:

Münster Cathedral
Basel’s cathedral, the impressive Münster, dominates the Old Town with its combination of gothic and romanesque features, red sandstone walls, colorful roof tiles and twin towers. It was built in the 13th century and rebuilt following an earthquake in the next century. Inside the cathedral is the tomb of the greatest of the European Renaissance humanists, Erasmus of Rotterdam. There are two cloisters just south of the cathedral, and behind the cathedral choir is the Pfalz, a bastion overlooking the Rhine and with views to the mountain range of the Vosges, the Black Forest and the Jura.

Münsterplatz
Tel: (061) 271 2182.
Free admission.

Museum Tinguely and Tinguely Fountain
A member of the Parisian avant-garde in the 1950s and 60s and widely known for his kinetic art, Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) grew up in Basel and has had an appreciative audience there ever since. The museum dedicated to him is as unusual as his art, full of objects that move, rattle, crash and jump. It is a fun and exciting place to be, conveying perfectly the joy of artistic discovery characteristic of the artist himself. One of his artworks, the Tinguelybrunnen (Tinguely Fountain), a fountain with moving sculptures and water-pipes, can be seen in the city center, in front of the Stadttheater (Steinenberg / Theaterstrasse).

Paul Sacher-Anlage 1 (Museum)
Tel: (061) 681 9320.
Website: www.tinguely.ch
Admission charge.

Zoo Basel
Basel’s zoo, fondly referred to as the Zolli by locals, was established as long ago as 1874, and it is one of Switzerland’s most popular attractions, with around a million visitors each year. More than 6,000 animals from 600 species live in the zoo, which covers an area of 11 hectares. Species represented include animals, giraffes, ostriches and kangaroos.

Binningerstrasse 40
Tel: (061) 295 3535.
Website: www.zoobasel.ch
Admission charge.

Kunstmuseum Basel
The oldest art museum in Switzerland, Basel’s Kunstmuseum possesses the largest collection of works by Hans Holbein (and the Holbein family) in the world as well as many works by other Swiss Renaissance artists. The museum also has an impressive collection of modern art, from Impressionism to Cubism (Picasso, Braque, Léger), German Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism.

St Alban-Graben 16
Tel: (061) 206 6262.
Website: www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch
Admission charge.

Spalentor and Botanical Garden
The Spalentor was erected in the 14th century and is an impressive fortified gateway to the Old Town with an amazing oak portcullis. Next door to this gate is Basel’s Botanical Garden, the oldest in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. It is a charming park with many interesting sections, among them a Mediterranean garden, an Alpinum and several green houses, including one for tropical plants and another for succulent plants.

Schönbeinstrasse 6 (Botanic Garden)
Tel: (061) 267 35 19/05.
Website: www.unibas.ch/botgarten
Free admission.

Basel Paper Museum
This museum is housed in an original paper mill from the late Middle Ages. For nearly 500 years paper was made in the museum’s buildings, and commercial production only stopped in 1924. The museum traces the technical and cultural development of paper, writing, printing and bookbinding, and paper is still made here using the old devices and machines on display. Visitors are encouraged to make their own paper.

St Alban-Tal 35-37
Tel: (061) 272 9652.
Website: www.papiermuseum.ch
Admission charge.

Further Distractions:

Fondation Beyeler (Beyeler Foundation)
A public home located in parkland in the suburb of Riehen, this art venue was designed by architect Renzo Piano. On display is the amazing art collection of Ernst and Hildy Beyeler: it contains some 200 modern works of art and offers an interesting and personal take on modern art history. Artists represented include Cézanne, Picasso, Rousseau, Mondrian, Klee, Ernst, Matisse, Giacometti, Newman and Bacon. The temporary special exhibitions are invariably excellent.

Baselstrasse 101, Riehen
Tel: (061) 645 9700.
Website: www.beyeler.com

Basel Architecture Museum
As becomes a city with such an abundance of interesting modern architecture and several internationally renowned architects’ offices, Basel has an excellent architecture museum. The exhibition program focuses on modern Swiss architecture (including Le Corbusier) and international contemporary architecture as well as connections between architecture and other arts. Guided tours, lectures and discussions are among the activities at the museum.

Steinenberg 7
Tel: (061) 261 1413.
Website: www.architekturmuseum.ch

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