Scenes of Basel
The various scenes of Basel illustrate architectural structures from bygone times (for example, the city’s former fortification) and people in various local public spaces. The second expansion of Basel in the 13th century, which resulted in the filling in of wide ditches (Graben), is reflected in the present day layout of some of the city’s core streets: St. Albangraben, Steinengraben, Kohlenberg, Leonhardsgraben and Petersgraben.
The construction of the city’s first train station (connecting Basel and Strassbourg) necessitated, in 1844, the expansion of a part of the northern city wall. Most of the remaining city fortifications were gradually torn down during the 19th century and today only remnants remain.

Portraits and Interior Scenes
Portraits of the first half of the 19th century feature local families as well as individuals in their private surroundings or in natural settings. Paintings of interior scenes, which first appeared as a genre at the beginning of the 19th century, became a popular mode of self-representation amongst the Basler bourgeoisie. They constitute the most important iconoclastic source illustrating bourgeois tastes in home decor before the invention of photography.
The paintings are snapshots of Baslers, either alone or with their families in a domestic context, for example, the well-to-do amateur artist, Hieronymous Emil Bischoff, who resided in the St. Alban-Vorstadt, or the successful transport agent, Emanuel Walter Oswald-Falkner, who lived with his wife in nearby St. Louis.
The small format paintings of the writing expert, Franz Matzinger-Egger, and his family and also of the spice dealer, Tripet, in Kleinbasel (Lesser Basel)
depict the humbler world of the petty bourgeois. These interior scenes offer important insight into lost forms of textile production and the identification of decorative furnishings.

The St. James Monument
Following the triumph over Napoleon during the Wars of Liberation (1813–1815), the national consciousness of European countries increased dramatically. Throughout the continent patriotism manifested itself in a revived interest in the Gothic style and in a flourishing erection of monuments. These phenomena also found expression in Basel.
The first monument (1824), conceived by Marquard Wocher (1760–1830), represents the earliest neo-Gothic structure in Basel. It was intended as a national monument to honour the soldiers who died during the Battle of St. James on August 26, 1444. Despite the devastating defeat inflicted by the French army, the battle became a symbol of confederate virtue, loyalty, unity and self-sacrifice and, during the 19th century, was increasingly idealised.

The second monument (1872)
The deteriorating condition of the first monument led to an open competition for the construction of a new one. The long planning phase (1859–1872), during which numerous designs by various artists were proposed, ended in crowning glory with the erection of a second St. James Monument by the sculptor, Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891).