Swiss Architecture Museum

Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre and is located next to the city's theatre, opposite the concert house Stadtcasino, and in the same building as the famed Restaurant Kunsthalle. Curators and directors of the museum have included Jean-Christophe Ammann, Peter Pakesch, and Adam Szymczyk. In November 2014, Los Angeles-born Elena Filipovic was appointed director. The museum also hosts the library of Basler Kunstverein, which holds 30,000 items related to contemporary art, and a photo archive of the museum's history and past exhibits.

The Elisabethenkirche, or Offene Kirche Elisabethen, is a 19th-century church building in the centre of Basel, next to the Theater Basel, in Switzerland. It is a well detailed example of Swiss Gothic Revival style churches. It has a 72 metres (236 ft) tall bell tower and spire. The tower has internal stairs.

Basel ( BAH-zəl); also known as Basle ( BAHL); (German: Basel [ˈbaːzl̩] (listen); French: Bâle [bɑl]; Italian: Basilea [baziˈlɛːa]; Sutsilvan: Basileia; other Romansh: Basilea [baziˈleːɐ] (listen)) is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich and Geneva) with about 175,000 inhabitants. The official language of Basel is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect. Basel is famous for its many museums, including the Kunstmuseum, which is the first collection of art accessible to the public in the world (1661) and the largest museum of art in Switzerland, the Fondation Beyeler (located in Riehen), the Museum Tinguely and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is the first public museum of contemporary art in Europe. Forty museums are spread throughout the city-canton, making Basel one of the largest cultural centres in relation to its size and population in Europe. The University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university (founded in 1460), and the city's centuries-long commitment to humanism, have made Basel a safe haven at times of political unrest in other parts of Europe for such notable people as Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Holbein family, Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Jung, and in the 20th century also Hermann Hesse and Karl Jaspers. Basel was the seat of a Prince-Bishopric starting in the 11th century, and joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1501. The city has been a commercial hub and an important cultural centre since the Renaissance, and has emerged as a centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in the 20th century. In 1897, Basel was chosen by Theodor Herzl as the location for the first World Zionist Congress, and altogether the congress has been held there ten times over a time span of 50 years, more than in any other location. The city is also home to the world headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements. The name of the city is internationally known through institutions like the Basel Accords, Art Basel and FC Basel. In 2019 Basel was ranked the tenth most liveable city in the world by Mercer.

The Basel Massacre was an anti-Semitic episode in Basel, which occurred in 1349 in connection with alleged well poisoning as part of the Black Death persecutions, carried out against the Jews in Europe at the time of the Black Death. A number of Jews, variously given as between 300 and 600 (according to contemporary Medieval chronicles) or 50 to 70 (according to some modern historians) were burned alive, after being locked in a wooden structure built on a nearby island in the Rhine. Jewish children were apparently spared, but forcibly baptized and sent to monasteries. The event occurred on January 16.

Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas. Because the theatre does not have its own orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra is usually contracted to perform for opera and ballet productions as needed. For baroque-opera productions, La Cetra, the baroque orchestra of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, is engaged.

The Basel Historical Museum (German: Historisches Museum Basel) is one of the largest and most important museums of its kind in Switzerland and a heritage site of national significance. It opened in 1892. The museum is divided into three buildings within the city of Basel: the Barfüsserkirche, Haus zum Kirschgarten and Musikmuseum.

Stadtcasino Basel is a concert hall in Basel, Switzerland. It belongs to the Stadtcasino-Gesellschaft, a non-profit cultural association in Basel. It is the home of the Sinfonieorchester Basel.

The Dollhouse Museum (German: Puppenhausmuseum) in Basel is the largest museum of its kind in Europe. Now known as the Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel (Toy Worlds Museum Basle). The museum is located at Barfüsserplatz in the city center.

The Basel tramway network (German: Basler Strassenbahn-Netz) is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Basel, Switzerland, and the Swiss part of its agglomeration. It consists of 13 lines. Due to its longevity (the network is now more than a century old), it is part of Basel's heritage and, alongside the Basel Minster, is one of the symbols of the city. The trams on the network are operated by two transport providers: Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (Basel Transport Service) (BVB) and Baselland Transport (BLT). Both operators are part of the integrated fare network Tarifverbund Nordwestschweiz (TNW), which in itself is part of the three countries-integrated fare network triregio.BVB is owned by, and operates in, Basel-Stadt, the small canton comprising the city of Basel and two smaller municipalities, both situated right of the Rhine. Its green trams operate mostly in the city, although the termini of its lines 3, 6, and 14 are in the more rural canton of Basel-Land, line 8 terminates across the frontier in Germany, and line 3 in France. BLT is owned by Basel-Land, and its yellow and red trams operate in the outer suburbs to the south of Basel, and at one point pass through the territory of France. However, the three lines it operates, lines 10, 11 and 17, all also run over BVB track in central Basel. In addition line 14, while owned by BLT, is operated by BVB well into Basel-Land.

Founded in 1961, the Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig (Basel Museum of Ancient Art and Ludwig Collection) is one of the many museums in the Swiss city of Basel and a heritage site of national significance.The museum is devoted exclusively to the art of ancient civilizations from the 4th millennium BC to the 7th century AD. The only one of its kind in Switzerland, the museum shows works of art from the Mediterranean region, predominantly from the period from 1000 BC to 300 AD. A central position is occupied by the collection of Greek vases and sculptures and the Ancient Egyptian section. Further objects are from the Near East and Cyprus.

Basler Kantonalbank (Basel Cantonal Bank) is a Swiss cantonal bank that is one of the 24 cantonal banks serving Switzerland's 26 cantons. Founded in 1899, in 2019 Basler Kantonalbank had 15 branches with 842 employees; the total assets of the bank were CHF 27.305 billion. Basler Kantonalbank has a full state guarantee of its liabilities.

Basel-Münsterhügel is the site of an Iron Age (late La Tène) fort or oppidum, known as Basel oppidum, constructed by the Gaulish Rauraci after the battle of Bibracte in 58 BC. It the site of Basel Minster, in the Swiss city of Basel. The fort was abandoned or destroyed shortly after its construction, before the end of the 1st century BC, with the Roman conquest of the Alps and the establishment of the province of Gallia Belgica. By the early 1st century AD, there was a small vicus on the hill built on top of the ruins of the oppidum, possibly the origin of the name Basilia, from a toponym villa Basilia "estate of Basilius". In the mid-3rd century, the ruined oppidum was rebuilt as a Roman castrum, fortified with an encircling wall in c. 270. The vicus was abandoned, and the hill served as part of the Roman fortifications of the Rhine against the advancing Alamanni throughout the 4th century. The name Basilia for the Roman fortification is first mentioned in 237/8, and is named by Ammianus Marcellinus as a base used by Valentinian I in his campaign in Gaul in the 360s. The castle was abandoned after the death of Flavius Aetius in 454 and was probably once again in ruins by the 6th century, when the Alamannic settlement was established that would grow into the medieval city of Basel. The first Basel cathedral was built on the site in the early 9th century (replaced by an early Romanesque structure in c. 999–1025, and by the current late Romanesque church in the 12th century). The site was excavated by Furger-Gunti in the 1970s. There is an older undefended La Tène site at Basel Gasfabrik, not far from the oppidum, which was abandoned after the fort was completed.