K L E I N B A S E L
Meeting place: Wettsteinbrücke, Kleinbasel side
End: Kaserne, Unterer Rheinweg
Meeting place: Wettsteinbrücke, Kleinbasel side
End: Kaserne, Unterer Rheinweg
This walk takes us to through the part of Basel that was laid out as a planned settlement in the 13th c., after the first bridge across the Rhein was constructed. Although the defence walls that were built soon afterwards do not exist any longer, a former monastery complex and buildings constructed on the grounds of a former convent display some architectural characteristics that can help us imagine how the southern and the north-western corners of Kleinbasel’s medieval fortifications might have looked like. These two complexes - the 15th c. Carthusian monastery and the 19th c. Kaserne built on the grounds of the 13th c. Dominican convent - also mark the beginning and end of our walk.
We meet on the Kleinbasel side of the Wettstein bridge and look first at the Kartause - the Carthusian monastery converted after the Reformation into a town orphanage. We talk about the archaeological findings from the area of the Theodorskirche and continue along Lindenberg to the courtyard of the Hattstätterhof - a late-Gothic residence displaying castle-like features not typically seen in Basel. Our itinerary also includes the site of the 13th c. Riehentor and takes us further along Claragraben - a former defence moat, today a busy street lined with several impressive 19th c. buildings. We compare today’s Claraplatz with historic depictions of the medieval cloister of Poor Clares and have a look at the Clarakirche. On our way towards the river, we visit the nearby Volkshaus and discuss its ongoing renovation by Herzog & de Meuron. Our tour continues along the Rhine promenade where we look at the buildings that used to be part of the 13th c. Klingental convent, its cloister gardens replaced in the mid 19th c. by military quarters of the Kaserne. We end the tour by discussing the Kaserne reconstruction project which will open the building and connect the complex’s inner court with the Rhein promenade.
We meet on the Kleinbasel side of the Wettstein bridge and look first at the Kartause - the Carthusian monastery converted after the Reformation into a town orphanage. We talk about the archaeological findings from the area of the Theodorskirche and continue along Lindenberg to the courtyard of the Hattstätterhof - a late-Gothic residence displaying castle-like features not typically seen in Basel. Our itinerary also includes the site of the 13th c. Riehentor and takes us further along Claragraben - a former defence moat, today a busy street lined with several impressive 19th c. buildings. We compare today’s Claraplatz with historic depictions of the medieval cloister of Poor Clares and have a look at the Clarakirche. On our way towards the river, we visit the nearby Volkshaus and discuss its ongoing renovation by Herzog & de Meuron. Our tour continues along the Rhine promenade where we look at the buildings that used to be part of the 13th c. Klingental convent, its cloister gardens replaced in the mid 19th c. by military quarters of the Kaserne. We end the tour by discussing the Kaserne reconstruction project which will open the building and connect the complex’s inner court with the Rhein promenade.
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