Music was the great passion of the Basel silk ribbon manufacturer Lukas Sarasin (1730-1802). He began to build up a music library at a young age, part of which is now fortunately housed in the library of the University of Basel. Let this small exhibition take you on a journey through the multifaceted musical world of Lukas Sarasin in the 18th century.
He kept meticulous records of his growing music collection and not only the inventory, but also some of the sheet music he owned has been preserved. This allows us to draw reliable conclusions about the musical activities in his Blue House.
It is clear that Sarasin obtained compositions from practically all the leading musical centres in Europe at the time. In order to be able to make music with invited guests and friends at any time, he not only had a spacious music room with an organ installed in the right wing of the Blue House, but also kept all the instruments played in a large orchestra there at the time.
The exhibition is part of the project "Lukas Sarasin and the phenomenon of the 'collegium musicum' around 1800" at the Bern University of the Arts and the University of Geneva in collaboration with the Basel University Library.
Cabinet exhibition in the
Barfüsserkirche/library showcase
Basel Historical Museum
Management & administration
Steinenberg 4
PO box
CH – 4001 Basel
Reception: +41 61 205 86 00
historisches.museum(at)bs.ch
