Some 200,000 people from 200 countries around the world live in Basel. At the same time, the city forms the centre of a tri-national region with a population of 1.3 million and a workforce of 650,000. The region is an internationally leading Life Sciences Cluster.

For many centuries Basel was surrounded by a wall. In the 19th century it developed into an industrial city, bursting beyond the walls and rapidly expanding to its political boundaries. Economically, Basel evolved from a medieval city of craftsmen and guilds to the premier location for pharmaceuticals. The importance of trade runs through the centuries, with Basel early on being granted the imperial privilege to hold trade fairs. The city has always benefited from many newcomers: humanists who promoted book printing, Huguenot refugees who advanced the silk ribbon industry, workers who kept the factories going, and innovative scientific minds who furthered Basel as a place of research.

The exhibition in the nave of the Barfüsserkirche offers a brief overview of the city’s history and that of the Basel region, from the earliest traces of mankind to the present day.