basel
a city in 3 countries
Basel is just on the border of France, Germany and Switzerland. So going to any where is Europe frome here is really easy by train. The city has as well the largest harbour of the country. Of sights you find several art museums, a great zoo and arround a lovely old town.
basel minster
The Basel Minster (German: Basler Münster) is one of the main landmarks and tourist attractions of the Swiss city of Basel. It adds definition to the cityscape with its red sandstone architecture and coloured roof tiles, its two slim towers and the cross-shaped intersection of the main roof.
Originally a Catholic cathedral and today a Reformed Protestant church, it was built between 1019 and 1500 in Romanesque and Gothic styles. The late Romanesque building was destroyed by the 1356 Basel earthquake and rebuilt by Johannes Gmünd, who was at the same time employed for building the Freiburg Münster. This building was extended from 1421 by Ulrich von Ensingen, architect of the cathedral towers at Ulm and Strasbourg. The southern tower was completed in 1500 by Hans von Nußdorf. |
Kunstmuseum Basel
The Kunstmuseum’s main building dates from 1936. In 2008, the museum acquired land on the other side of Dufourstrasse and held an architectural competition was held. With international stars — Zaha Hadid, Rafael Moneo, Tadao Ando and Jean Nouvel — all pitching, eventually a young local firm, Christ & Gantenbein, won the project.
The final design is an angled building, faced with concrete bricks, and at the same height as the original museum. Building work for the $112 million project began in 2013 due to be finished in April 2016. The project is funded by the Canton of Basel-Stadt and the Laurenz Foundation, set up by Maja Oeri. The extension will add 2,750 square meters of galleries, increasing display space by 43%. The original museum is to house art from the 15th century to 1950, with later work in the extension. The upper floor of the new building will be for temporary exhibitions and the middle floor and part of the ground floor for the permanent collection. |