Basel

Basel is well worth its nickname of “City of Museums”. Indeed, this mid-sized municipality in northern Switzerland can proudly claim to have one of the world’s highest inhabitant/museum ratios, and it is widely regarded as one of the capitals of contemporary art, architecture, and design in the Western hemisphere.

Maybe for of its peculiar position, in the precise point where three European countries – France, Switzerland, and Germany – meet, perhaps due to its historical mercantile and industrial heritage which shaped its citizens’ mentality, Basel has become a city open to modernity and the most diverse cultural influences from the rest of the planet.

Such a cosmopolitan character fully expresses in Basel’s museums, cultural venues, exhibitions, and art events: from the Vitra Campus‘ built architecture and design museum (which is at the same time officially located in Germany and very Basler), to the inspiring Schaulager contemporary art depot designed by Herzog & de Meuron, from the imposing Kunstmuseum to the Beyeler Foundation designed by Renzo Piano, from the Kunsthalle to the renowned Art Basel fair.

Banner image by Donald Ogg