Basel - The Rathaus; around the Markt Platz - The 31st of December 2019

As we walked onto the Marktplatz a grand red coloured building caught our immediate attention. Having grown to a considerable size in 1875, the new Cantonal Constitution is said to have required a bigger administrative building following Basel joining the Swiss Confederation, thus the rebuilding of the Assembly Hall, which has turned into the actual Townhall.

 

 

The paintings on the interior and exterior facade are Law and Legislation oriented, as well as associated with heraldry of the Confederation members and cantons therewith associated, along with a number of historic and legendary figures.

 

 

The exterior of the Town Hall shows a frieze of childlike warriors on the left with angels of victory crowning Basel's shields with laurel wreaths. The figure of Justitia at the height of the front Chambers is clearly a reminder of its importance and function in law.

 

 

A mock balcony on the top depicts weapon bearers and peaceful citizens and children.  The Proclamation balcony on the tower bears the words "Here begins Swiss soil". The Southern tower wall depicts Hans Bär, said to have fallen in battle in 1515.

 

 

The imposing sculpure of Munatius Plancus, the founder of the Roman city of Uagusta Raurica is to be seen on the left side of the stairs leading up to the Assembly Hall in the courtyard, where several paintings depicting Heinrich II and his wife Kunigunde, the patrons of the city of Basel, are to be found. 

 

 

We strolled around admiring its beauty from different perspectives till we were tired of looking up and made our way to the surrounding area, to just find that many buildings also bore paintings on their walls. We finally sat on a secluded "platz" with some cozy corners and a rather interesting fountain with a monkey sculpture.

 

Basel - on the way to the Old town - our first impressions ... - The 30th and 31st of December 2018

Our hotel room at Ibis Styles, though not exactly in the centre of the town was sufficently well located and besides was exquisitively decorated. The black and white city picture covering one wall gave it a whole sense of expansion and the small "decorative" details spread around the room were rather impressive, I must say.

 

Having decided to hop onto an tram (free for anyone staying at any city Hotel) we ended up deviating ourselves from where we were supposed to head to. The strolling around revealed a part of the city we might have not walked onto otherwise and it wasn't uninteresting.

We finally made it to the main train station before finding our way to the old town. We briefly stopped at the Neo-Gothic church Elizabethenkirche, said to have been built between 1857 and 1864 and become the first "Open Church", whose concept I had never heard of. The truth is that within the church premises there were several modern wooden sculptures, that one would not expect to find inside many of the average churches. They were particularly beautiful and despite being rather simple, as far as carving is concerned, there was something very special about them that touched one's heart.

Right close to it the Tinguely's Carnival Fountain said to have been created in 1977. We stood there admiring the 9 sculptural machines in permanet movement. It was the first time I heard of Tinguely and wish I had read about him before, once I felt he was a particularly creative artist.

 

 

It started to rain as we continued making our way towards the Markt Platz. The day was grayish but we were nevertheless positively impressed by what we had seen until then. Modernity seemed to cohabit with the old in a magic sort of blending and we were looking forward to further exploring the city with or without open umbrellas.