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Basel Historical Museum

Exhibition archive

The Basel Historical Museum, with its three sites, constantly offers smaller and larger exhibitions.

Browse through our archive and explore past exhibitions and special highlights. Please find our current exhibitions here.

Search the exhibition archive

All past exhibitions

March 12 2024 – September 29 2024  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

Let the small exhibition take you on a journey through the multifaceted musical world of Lukas Sarasin in the 18th century.

July 13 2024 – September 9 2024  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

A cabinet exhibition with design drawings and semi-finished products by the Basel goldsmith Pierre Fürbringer (1934–2017) provides an insight into the creation of his jewellery. From 13 July 2024.

Special exhibition

Rausch – Extase – Rush

October 26 2023 – June 30 2024  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

The exhibition explores the phenomenon of euphoria and its impacts. Open until 30 June 2024.

Special exhibition

Ligeti Labyrinth

An Exhibition Celebrating the Centenary of the Composer György Ligeti’s Birth

November 30 2023 – April 7 2024  |  Musikmuseum
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Many original manuscripts are on display in the exhibition and media stations invite visitors to experiment with his music. Open until 7 April 2024.

Readings of a Basel Couple in the Late Middle Ages

September 12 2023 – March 11 2024  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

An early example of reading for an urban audience has survived in the form of a couple's library.

Decoration

Christmas spirit at the Haus zum Kirschgarten

Seasonal exhibition

November 8 2023 – January 1 2024  |  Haus zum Kirschgarten
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

The Haus zum Kirschgarten enriches the pre-Christmas season with surprises for young and old.

Special exhibition

Out of Use

Everyday Life in Transition

March 23 2023 – September 17 2023  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

From monkey fur to spittoons, from typewriters to Game Boy: the theme of the exhibition is objects that are no longer in use.

Special exhibition

animalistic !

The Sound of Animals

October 22 2021 – August 27 2023  |  Musikmuseum
 | 

The special exhibition presents the many connections between animals and music.

Display case

Comites Latentes

Die Handschriftensammlung des Sion Segre Amar

September 6 2022 – March 5 2023  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

A top-class collection of predominantly medieval manuscripts was handed over as a deposit to the Historisches Museum Basel in February 2022. Selected treasures will thus be on public display in Basel for the first time until 5 March 2023 in the Barfüsserkirche.

Special exhibition

Elegant Imbibing

Baroque Silver from a Basel Collection

June 10 2022 – January 29 2023  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  | 

How might we turn water into wine? Conjure the aromas of a festive spread? «Imbibe elegantly »? One of Switzerland’s most important private collections of Baroque silver is presented to the public for the first time in this special exhibition. A fascinating insight into the sheer variety of drinking vessels, their manufacture and use, it reveals that for all the differences, there are also parallels between imbibing today and imbibing 300 years ago.

March 1 2022 – August 28 2022  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

In the 18th century smallpox was an endemic disease that almost everybody had at some point.

Mini-exhibition

Monkey Business!

The life and death of a late medieval pet

January 21 2022 – May 22 2022  |  Barfüsserkirche
 | 

During excavations at the St. Alban-Graben in 2020, archaeologists discovered the skeleton of a monkey in a late medieval latrine tower.

Peter Ochs (1752–1821)

June 18 2021 – November 14 2021  |  Barfüsserkirche
 | 

Basel Historical Museum commemorates the 200th anniversary of the death of Peter Ochs with a small exhibition in two display cases in the Barfüsserkirche.

From the Otto Kleiber Archive

August 18 2020 – June 13 2021  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

In cooperation with the University Library of Basel and for the first time, we are showing an exquisite selection of letters by exiled authors from the archives of the feature editor Otto Kleiber.

Special exhibition

Borderlines

Basel 1933–1945

August 21 2020 – May 30 2021  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  | 

UNTIL 30 MAY 2021: Basel Historical Museum is showing a special exhibition on Basel during the National Socialist era.

Fotografien aus der Sammlung Ruth und Peter Herzog

July 18 2020 – December 13 2020  |  Barfüsserkirche
Admission  | 

Impressive photographs from the Ruth and Peter Herzog Collection bring that time of technical feats and hopes back to life.

Display case

The Basel Quran

A contribution to intercultural dialogue

July 2 2019 – August 16 2020  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

Starting in July, the Basel Historical Museum is to show the Basel Quran. The manuscript penned in Egypt or Syria in 1242 was brought to the Council of Basel from Constantinople in 1437.

Display case

Public Enemy

Bruno Manser and the Rainforest

September 6 2019 – March 1 2020  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

Bruno Manser (1954–2005) was Switzerland’s best known environmentalist and human rights activist during his lifetime. He studied the language and culture of the Penan in Malaysian Borneo. This cabinet exhibition on the activist was organized in cooperation with the Bruno Manser Fonds and the Museum der Kulturen Basel.

Special exhibition

Übermensch

Friedrich Nietzsche and his Afterlife

October 16 2019 – February 23 2020  |  Barfüsserkirche
German, English, French  | 

This exhibition to mark the 175th anniversary of the birth of the famous German cultural critic and philosopher presents Friedrich Nietzsche, his works and influence to this day.

Special exhibition

Sound Pictures

Musical Treasures from 16th-Century Basel

May 24 2019 – February 2 2020  |  Musikmuseum
German, English, French  |  Admission  | 

Unique prints and manuscripts telling of the cultural life of Renaissance Basel.

Special exhibition

Gold & Glory

Gifts for Eternity

October 11 2019 – January 19 2020  |  Kunstmuseum Basel, Neubau
German, English, French  |  Exhibition admission  | 

The Basel Historical Museum is currently preparing a major loan exhibition to celebrate the millennium of Basel cathedral «GOLD & GLORY – Gifts for Eternity», which is to be the key event among numerous festivities planned for the cathedral jubilee.

 
Contact

Management & administration
PO box | Steinenberg 4
CH-4001 Basel

Office opening hours
8:30 – 12 AM | 13:30 – 17 PM
Reception: +41 61 205 86 00
historisches.museum(at)bs.ch

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