Basel City Walls
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The Basel city walls are a complex of
wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...
s surrounding the central part of the Swiss city of
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, only partially preserved today. The first city wall was completed around 1080 under bishop Burkhard von Fenis. A newer wall was constructed around 1230, which is known as the ''Inner Wall''. Its course was mostly identical to the Burkhard wall. In 1362 the construction of a larger wall complex began due to the city's expansion; it was completed in 1398, and is known as the ''Outer Wall''. In 1859 the city's executives decided to raze the inner wall and gates to the ground. Three outer city gates and a short piece of the wall were saved from demolition and are being preserved as part of the city's heritage.


History

At the end of the 11th century, the growing settlement in the valley was walled, though settlement continued outside the wall.Dickinson, Robert.
The West European City: A Geographical Interpretation
', Volume 12, pp.66-67 (Taylor & Francis 1998).
As the town spread up the west slopes surrounding the
Birsig The Birsig is a rather small river in eastern France and northern Switzerland. Its source is in the village Biederthal, in the French Haut-Rhin department, near the Swiss border. The Birsig is about long, and its drainage basin, watershed area is ...
river, that section was walled also. At the beginning of the 13th century, all these sections were included within a single wall that embraced both the valley and hill settlements. In 1362, the city began building a new, wider city wall, which also enclosed the suburbs. It is possible that the destruction wrought by the earthquake of 1356 contributed to the decision to build a new wall. Among the construction materials were debris from the destruction and Jewish gravestones from the cemetery of the first Jewish community of Basel, which was destroyed in the violence surrounding the outbreak of the
Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
in 1348. The construction of the outer city walls was completed in 1398 and these walls lasted until the mid-nineteenth century. In 1859, the city walls were demolished in order to increase space and improve hygiene conditions in the city. The debris from the demolished walls were used to fill in the city moat, and these areas were converted into new streets and spaces, many of which bear names referring to the original wall. During this process, most of the embedded gravestones were lost. Ten of the few remaining ones are on display in the courtyard of the
Jewish Museum of Switzerland The Jewish Museum of Switzerland in Basel provides an overview of the religious and everyday history of the Jews in Basel and Switzerland using objects of ritual, art and everyday culture from Middle Ages, the Middle Ages to the present. Histo ...
.


City gates


Outer gates

Three gates from the outer wall have been preserved, and today they represent landmarks of Basel and a heritage site of national significance: * The ''Spalentor'' (Gate of Spalen) is regarded as one of the most beautiful gates of Switzerland. * The ''Sankt-Alban-Tor'' (Gate of Saint Alban) * The ''Sankt-Johanns-Tor'' (Gate of Saint John). * The ''Aeschentor'' (Aeschen Gate) was pulled down in 1861 along with three other gateways and the city walls. From the 14th century, it was the principal gate from Basel to Aesch. File:Basel - Spalentor.jpg, Spalentor File:Basel - St.-Alban-Tor.jpg, Sankt-Alban-Tor File:St Johanns-Tor Basel.jpg, Sankt-Johanns-Tor File:Aeschentor-aquarelle-1850.jpg, Aeschentor, c. 1850


Inner gates

The inner walls used to encircle the Great Basel (Gross Basel) on the west bank and Small Basel (Kleinbasel) on the east bank of the Rhine. All the inner gates and walls were demolished between 1860 and 1870:


East bank

*Aeschenschwibbogen was a small gate near the east bank of the
Birsig The Birsig is a rather small river in eastern France and northern Switzerland. Its source is in the village Biederthal, in the French Haut-Rhin department, near the Swiss border. The Birsig is about long, and its drainage basin, watershed area is ...
. Aesch is a village about south of Basel old town. (It is nowadays a suburb of the city.) A is a type of
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
, in the form of an arch which braces the structures on either side. Aeschenschwibbogen was first documented in 1261 as 'Eschmertor', in connection with a donation to
Saint Urban's Abbey St. Urban's Abbey (german: Kloster Sankt Urban) is a former Cistercian monastery in the municipality of Pfaffnau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. History The monastery was founded ...
. Later names include 'Aeschentor' and 'Inneres Aeschentor'. Its original function became obsolete in the 14th century when the outer city wall was built, and that function was taken over by the
Aeschentor The Basel city walls are a complex of walls surrounding the central part of the Swiss city of Basel, only partially preserved today. The first city wall was completed around 1080 under bishop Burkhard von Fenis. A newer wall was constructed arou ...
in the outer wall. The upper half of the tower was removed in August 1545, after a crack in the masonry appeared. The gate is recorded as having been equipped with a clock from the middle of the 16th century. :In August 1839, Rudolf Forcart-Hoffmann, a manufacturer of passementerie, petitioned the ('Lesser Council') of Basel that Aeschenschwibbogen should be demolished. He wanted to build a new house, , at the location. This would serve a double purpose: beautifying the city, and removing a bottleneck on an important traffic route. Permission was granted, and Aeschenschwibbogen was demolished in 1841. (by ) * The ''Steinentor'' (Gate of Steinen) was pulled down in 1866 along with most of the city walls. * The ''Rheintor'' (Rhine Gate) was pulled down in 1839, about twenty years before the other city walls. It was located at the Rhine bridge on the western river bank.


West bank

* The ''Riehentor'' (Gate of
Riehen Riehen (Swiss German: ''Rieche'') is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland. Together with the city of Basel and Bettingen, Riehen is one of three municipalities in the canton. Riehen hosts the Fondation Beyeler (a privately ...
) was pulled down in 1864. * The ''Bläsitor'' (Gate of
Saint Blaise Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and m ...
) was pulled down in 1867.


Other wall buildings

* The ''Thomasturm'' (Thomas Tower) was a watchtower just across the Sankt-Johanns-Tor. It was named after
Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
. * Letziturm (
Letzi A ''Letzi'' (plural: ''Letzinen'', also known in German as a ''Talsperre'' in the sense of a fortification, not a dam) or ''Letzimauer'' refers to defensive barriers whose purpose is to protect the entrance into a valley. The term is Swiss, and ...
Tower) consists of two closely spaced towers at the eastern end of the walls, near the Sankt-Alban-Tor. * Rail gate (built in the 19th century along with the Alsatian rail station) * Gate of Brigitte (in the Saint Alban quarter) * Upper Rhine gate File:Thomasturm Basel.jpg, The ruins of the Thomasturm in spring 2005 File:Basel Letziturm 02.JPG, Letziturm File:Steinentor-photo-1864.jpg, Steinentor in 1864 File:Blaesitor-aquarelle-1840.jpg, Bläsitor, around 1840


See also

*
1356 Basel earthquake The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history and had a moment magnitude in the range of 6.0–7.1.Buildings and structures in Basel
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
History of Basel