Basel swimming in the Rhine
The Basel Rhine Swim (obsolete and current swimming ) is practiced as a leisure activity open water swimming in the Rhine in the center of Basel . It is very popular with the local population , especially in midsummer, and has recently become a tourist attraction. Swimming in the Rhine is part of the list of living traditions in Switzerland .
history
Until the Middle Ages, swimming in the Rhine was frowned upon by society; In addition to commercial use (fishing), it was primarily used as waste water for urban households. Before weirs were built and banks were straightened, the higher flow velocity made the Rhine a dangerous river; this was u. a. used to carry out the death penalty imposed by drowning or washing at the Käppelijoch . After the iconoclasm in 1529, swimming in the Rhine was banned by the strict moral regime of the guilds and remained so until the 18th century.
In 1831 the first public bathing facility on the Rhine was opened below the Münsterpfalz , as the third open-air swimming pool in Switzerland. On the initiative of the GGG , it served as a swimming school for the male city dwellers; In 1847 a Rheinbad for women followed in the same place. In 1878 it had to be rebuilt due to flood damage. In 1961 it was finally demolished. The two later opened Rheinbad houses in the quarters of St. Johann (1887) and Breite (1898) are still in operation today.
With the establishment of the chemical companies based on the Rhine ( Sandoz , Roche ), the river was additionally polluted by industrial wastewater and swimming in the Rhine was limited to the Rhine baths for a long time. It was not until the 1980s that the water quality improved significantly thanks to the construction of a sewage treatment plant and swimming in open rivers became more popular. On the occasion of the Green 80 , the Rhine promenades were largely traffic-calmed, which made a stay on the banks of the Rhine more attractive for pedestrians.
Since the turn of the millennium, swimming in the Rhine has become the most important leisure activity in the city in the course of the emerging Mediterraneanization of Central European cities. In 2009 the Great Council decided to renovate and redesign the Kleinbasler Ufer; The infrastructure in particular was improved with the construction of bank stairs, showers and exits. To the ever increasing popularity and the gastronomic Buvettenbetrieb in the lower Kleinbasel and the sales of bath bags (carry Wickelfisch ) at. On peak days, several thousand people linger on the banks of the Rhine, respectively. floating up in the Rhine.
Legal basis
Swimming in the Rhine is regulated by the police regulations on swimming in the public waters of the canton of Basel-Stadt of August 5, 1985. Accordingly, swimming in the Rhine is only recommended for experienced people. Bathing equipment and swimming aids (e.g. air mattresses or armbands ) are not permitted; Inflatable boats from 2.5 meters in length must be registered. Swimming in the Riehenteich pond and in the Rhine harbors as well as jumping from the Rhine bridges , swimming near ships and stepping onto jetties is also prohibited .
The cantonal Justice and Security Department provides information on recommended swimming areas and unsecured danger zones every year in publicly posted instructions. The most popular swimming zone is located along the Kleinbasler Ufer between the Museum Tinguely and the Dreirosenbrücke , where you can swim up to 3 kilometers. Other swimming zones on the Grossbasel side are located at Birsköpfli , in the area of the two Rhine baths Breite and St. Johann and, since 2016, below the Novartis Campus up to the French border. The swimming zones are marked with colored buoys.
The danger zone is due on the one hand to unpredictable eddies in the vicinity of the bridge piers and stronger flow conditions due to centrifugal forces on the Grossbasler Rhine knee side, on the other hand to the uphill and downhill traffic of Rhine shipping , whose channel is in the middle of the river. In principle, there are no restrictions for these areas either. Although there has been a bathing ban in marked areas since 2010, these are limited to the port areas. In 2016, after a report in the daily Blick about an alleged swimming ban , the cantonal justice and security department confirmed that such a ban would not be enforceable and therefore does not exist.
Events
Organized swimming in the Rhine was carried out between 1945 and 1970 as part of the Basel Rhine Sports Days under the name "Stromschwimmen".
Since 1980, the Swiss Lifesaving Society (SLRG) Basel section has organized an accompanied swim in the Rhine. It always takes place on the first Tuesday after the Basel school holidays (alternative date one week later). The start is at 6 p.m. at the Münster ferry on the Kleinbasel bank of the Rhine. Accompanied by watercraft and lifeguards, the participants swim or allow themselves to be drifted along the Rhine for about 15 minutes from the Münster ferry on the Kleinbasel bank of the Rhine to the lower Rhine path. The distance is around 1.8 kilometers. The Rhine will be closed to shipping for the duration of the event. The number of participants ranges from several hundred to several thousand swimmers. In the hot summers of 2003 and 2016 around 5000 people took part.
In 2007 the Basler Rheinschwimmen had to be canceled for the first time due to flooding, in 2019 the event was canceled due to poor weather forecast.
In addition , every Tuesday between July 6th and the end of August , the Basel Sports Office organizes an accompanied Rhine swim from the Solitude at the Tinguely Museum to the Wettstein Bridge . The number is limited to a maximum of 60 swimmers.
Since 2000, the annual IMFLUSS music festival (also known as the “Kulturfloss”) has been held for three weeks in July and August. It organizes concerts on a floating stage on the Kleinbasler Ufer above the Mittlere Brücke and attracts up to 50,000 visitors.
Web links
- Official website of the SLRG section Basel
- Official website of the SLRG-Rheinschwimmens
- Bathing and swimming. Basel buildings
Individual evidence
- ↑ The first Rhybadhysli was at the foot of the cathedral hill. barfi.ch, June 27, 2017, accessed on July 10, 2017 .
- ^ Regulations for bathing in public waters. (PDF; 21 kB) Canton Police of the City of Basel, May 23, 2010, accessed on July 10, 2017 .
- ↑ After the shock video: Discussion about higher penalties for bridge jumpers. bazonline.ch, July 15, 2020, accessed on July 15, 2020 .
- ↑ Blick headlines: Rhine swimming ban for Basel residents. That's rubbish! barfi.ch, July 19, 2016, accessed on July 10, 2017 .
- ^ Basler Rheinschwimmen. In: slrg.ch. Retrieved August 23, 2019 .