10 Museums in Vorstädte That You Shouldn't Miss

The Kunstmuseum Basel is home to one of the largest and oldest public museum collections in Europe with works from the early fifteenth century to the present.

Special interest museum features a historic variety of play objects including dolls, dollhouses, Teddy bears, carrousels and miniatures from all over the world.

Haus zum Kirschgarten was built for the silk ribbon manufacturer and army colonel Johann Rudolf Burckhardt between 1775 and 1780. The architect Johann Ulrich Buchel designed a mansion worthy of his client's wealth and status which is also a tour de force of early Neoclassical style, influenced in part by Masonic concepts. The mansion has been a museum of domestic culture since 1951. Most of the interior is devoted to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century period rooms formerly inhabited by Basel’s affluent bourgeoisie. But the museum also houses several special collections and hosts mini-exhibitions, such as that on Sheikh Ibrahim.

Basel Paper Mill is the national museum for paper, typography and writing. Within the walls of a medieval mill, visitors discover the bookmaking proces from handmade paper to the finished book. On four floors you can experience various workshops with all your senses: crafting your very own handmade paper, write with ink quil, set your name in lead types at the printer's workshop or create your own marbling paper: A lively diversity is the trademark of the museum. With a mix of exhibition and production-workshops the Basel Paper Mill offer a fascinating atmosphere in an authentic environment. A whole range of products is manufactured before the eyes of the visitors for customer orders or sales in the museum shop.

Dynamic, experimental, rigorous, open-minded, and accessible, Kunsthalle Basel is a place for audacious art and exhibitions by emerging artists. Established in 1872 by the Basler Kunstverein (Basel Art Association), Kunsthalle Basel is world renowned for engaging with pioneering practices in contemporary art. With its majestic, skylighted spaces, the Kunsthalle is a truly exceptional place to see art. It organizes about eight exhibitions per year, featuring international and Swiss artists. The shows often take innovative forms and involve newly commissioned works. Throughout the year the Kunsthalle also presents dynamic public programming-artists' talks, lectures, film screenings, and readings-to contextualize the featured artists' practices. Kunsthalle Basel looks back with pride on a long history of exhibitions that nurtured the development of art and supported, early in their careers, emerging artists who would go on to become part of art history. In the early twentieth century it hosted major solo shows by Edvard Munch, Paul Gauguin, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Vincent van Gogh, and Piet Mondrian. In subsequent decades it featured Jackson Pollock, Alighiero Boetti, Joan Jonas, Jeff Koons, and Richard Serra. And more recently we have been proud to present solo shows by Moyra Davey, Mark Leckey, Superflex, Piotr Uklanski, Danh Vo, and Anicka Yi, to name only a few.

The Cartoonmuseum Basel is the only museum and centre of excellence in Switzerland devoted exclusively to the art of narrative drawing. The museum’s focus lies on carefully curated exhibitions displaying the works of a single artist or illustrating a specific theme.

The S AM Swiss Architecture Museum is the leading institution in the mediation of contemporary architecture in Switzerland. Centrally located and in the immediate vicinity of numerous other cultural institutions, S AM invigorates and shapes Switzerland's architectural discourse with its program, and seeks to bridge the gap between professional discourse and the wider public.