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Basel Historical Museum

Objects in the collection

Basel Historical Museum has a collection comprising over 250,000 objects. A selection of these is presented here.

The scientists, scholars and collectors of the 16th century and thereafter kept Wunderkammer full of spectacular objects and works of art. Among the treasures presented are some that originally belonged to the world-famous Amerbach Cabinet.

Discover further Swiss museum collections at Museums Online.

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Chosen Exhibits

Armorial panel of Andreas Ryff and Daniel Burckhardt

dated 1595 – Attributed to Jakob Plepp, Basle – Height 55 cm, width 37.5 cm – Inv. 1991.257.

After his successful mediation in the 1594 rebellion of the subjects of the Basle region, …

Charity, from the Niklaus Chapel, St. Peter, Basle

Ascribed to David joris, Basle, ca. 1545 – Monopartife panel, diameter 20 cm – Inv. 1905.498.

It is difficult to fit the series of small roundels of the Christian virtues, originally …

Armorial panel of the Counts of Thierstein

Basle, ca. 1500 – Height 47 cm, width 32 cm – lnv. 1947.17.

This well preserved glass painting displays the coat of arms of the old Thierstein dynasty …

Christ Pantokrator, from the church of Nendaz

Switzerland, ca. 1300 – Height 62 cm, width 67 cm – Inv. 1881.87.

The trefoil window with Christ enthroned as the Pantokrator from Nendaz parish church in …

Armorial panel of Basle with associated panel above from the Basle town hall

dated 1514 Basle – Height 50.5 cm, width 49 cm – height 24 cm, width 55 cm – Inv. 1925.62. – Inv. 1925.179.

The armorial panel with angels and the richly figured panel above it were originally part …

Armorial panel of Basle

Basle, 1512/20 – Height 46 cm, width 32 cm – Inv. 1904.328.

The proliferation in the late Middle Ages of legends involving the basilisk in the …

Armorial panel of the Drei Ehrengesellschaften Kleinbasels (three honourable societies of Kleinbasel)

dated 1854 – Adolf Mieg, Basle – Height 71 cm, width 60.5 cm – Inv. 1964.21.

From 1841 the three 'honourable societies' of Kleinbasel, 'zum Rebhaus', 'zur Hären and …

Armorial panel of Zug from the council chamber at Baden

Lukas Zeiner, Zurich, 1500-01 – Height 50 cm, width 35 cm – Inv.1870.1272.

The panel of Zug belongs to a cycle of armorial panels conceived as a whole and presented …

Armorial panel of Basle with the Virgin

dated 1519 – Basle – Height 60.5 cm, width 35.5 cm – Inv. 1930.93.

Early Renaissance glass painting in Basle received powerful and lasting inspiration from …

Allegory of Transience

dated 1731 – Johann Rudolf Huber(?), Basle – Monopartite panel – height 14.5 cm, width 14.5 cm – Inv. 1888,95. purchase

The small octagonal panel shows Chronos, the personification of Time, as an old bearded man …

Armorial panel of Johannes Gebwiler

dated 1497 – Upper Rhine region – Height 45 cm, width 32 cm – Inv. 1958.19.

The subject of the glass painting, which according to the inscription was donated by …

Armorial panel of Georg von Massmunster

dated 1520 Basle – Height 61.5 cm, width 53 cm – Inv. 1935.479.

The armorial panel of Georg von Massmunster is the only surviving glass painting of the …

Armorial panel of Johann Konrad von Roggenbach

dated 1660 Wolfgang Spengler, Constance – Height 45 cm, width 42 cm – Inv. 1877.9.

The armorial panel, a signed work by the Constance glass painter Wolfgang Spengler dated …

Angel with a monochord, from the chapterhouse of the Munster, Constance

Workshop of Peter Hemmel von Andlau, Strasbourg, ca. 1480 – Height 62 cm, width 36 cm – Inv. 1891.106.

The two curved tracery infill panels with musician angels which the Museum bought in 1891 …

Basle troops marching out through the Spalentor

Basle, 2nd half 16th century – Height 15 cm, width 38.5 cm – Inv. 1895.69.

Originally set above a glass painting that is now missing, this small stained glass …

Our Lady of Sorrows, from the Charterhouse, Freiburg in Breisgau

Ropstein workshop, Freiburg in Breisgau, 1st quarter 16th century – Height 746.5 cm, width 54.5 cm – Inv. 1901.270.

The Mater Dolorosa is one of the set of 25 large figure panels of which eight were …

Armorial panel of the town of Breisach,

dated 1521 – Upper Rhine – Height 42 cm, width 31 cm – Inv. 1923.246.

The armorial panel of Breisach depicts the brothers St Gervasius and St Protasius whose …

St Gotman

dated 1508, Basle – Height 72 cm, width 50 cm – Inv. 1870.1277.

Basle's medieval guilds were originally not just craft associations, but religious …

St Christopher, from Laufelfingen church

Basle, ca. 1470 – Height 59 cm, width 4I cm – Inv.1881.77.

The St Christopher panel, created by an unknown master ca. 1470, is a choice example of …

Memorial panel for Matthaus Merian

Designed by Hieronymus Hess, Basle, 1849 – executed by Ferdinand Beck, Schaffhausen, 1852 – Height 77 cm, width 47 cm – Inv. 1981.28.

In 1849 Eduard Merian Bischoff had four glass paintings commemorating illustrious members …

Detail of the bird's eye view of the city of Basle, from the inner council chamber of Basle town hall

Basle, 1663/64 – Monopartite panel, height 36 cm, width 39 cm – Inv. 1870.1290

In 1663 the mayors Niklaus Rippel and Rudolf Wettstein and the master guildsmen Benedict …

The Death of Mary

from Notre Dame de la Visitation, Bourguillon Attributed to Michel Glaser, mid 15th century¨ Height 149 cm, width 76.5 cm – Inv. 1888.43.a.

The museum has two tall rectangular windows from the lepers' and pilgrims' church of Notre …

Standard bearer of the Zunft zu Webern (weavers' guild)

dated 1560 – Attributed to Ludwig Ringler, Basle – Height 702.5 cm, width 54.5 cm – Inv. 1884.64.

The large panel with the gonfalonier of the Basle guild of wool and linen weavers is a …

The ropemakers' banquet

dated 1615 – Attributed to Hieronymus Vischer, Basle – Height 55.5 cm, width 56 cm – Inv. 1901.42.

Every Basle guild had a drinking room in its guildhall which was specially provided for …

Armorial panel of the von Bärenfels family

Basle or Winterthur, ca. 1895 – Height 87 cm, width 58 cm – Inv. 1979.115.

The opening of the Historisches Museum in the Barfüsserkirche in 1894 gave many Basle …

Maiestas Domini stained-glass work from the Cathedral of Chartres

France, 1st half of 13th century – Dia. 82 cm – Inv. 1978.222.

The original parts of these two Gothic panes are fragments of a now lost stained-glass …

 
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