Basel city wall
The Basel city wall is a wall structure that was used in three different sizes from 1080 to 1860 as a fortification for the Swiss city of Basel . On the inner and outer city walls, gates and candle arches formed the entrance and exit to the city. Today there are still three city gates and a short section of the wall, which are under monument protection .
First city wall
The first verifiable post-Roman city wall of Basel was built around 1080. The builder was Burkhard von Fenis , who was appointed Bishop of Basel by King Heinrich IV in 1072 . The course of this wall is only partially known, but it is assumed that it was largely identical to that of the inner city wall built later.
Inner city wall
Around 1230 the Burkhard Wall was replaced by a new city wall, which is now called the "Inner City Wall". This new wall probably largely followed the Burkhardsche wall. It was built a few meters outside the old wall into the city moat, the space between the old and the new wall was filled in and turned into a circular path.
Outer city wall
The city continued to develop and the suburbs emerged in front of the city walls. These were undoubtedly fortified, but the details of these fortifications are not known.
In 1362 the city, which at that time was already ruled by a council, began building a new, wider city wall, which now also enclosed the suburbs. The earthquake of 1356 with its destruction may have contributed to the decision to build a new building. This city wall is now called the “outer city wall”. It was laid out so extensively that it also enclosed a lot of undeveloped space, so that further urban development within the wall was possible. After the city bought Kleinbasel from the Bishop of Strasbourg in 1392 , who was in acute financial need because of his long war against the city of Strasbourg , a city wall was also built around Kleinbasel. In 1398 the construction of the outer city wall was completed.
Even after the completion of the new outer wall, the old inner city wall continued to exist. Grossbasel now had two rings of walls.
In the 14th century, war technology in Europe was revolutionized by the introduction of black powder and thus the cannon, so that the outer city wall was already technically out of date when it was completed and could hardly have withstood a serious siege. However, they did not upgrade them as a whole, but only supplemented them selectively with jumps in the event of current threats .
Demolition of the city wall
Until the beginning of the 19th century the urban population grew only slowly and there was enough space for urban development within the fortified city. But in the 19th century an increased population growth set in. The existing quarters were intensively and haphazardly “compacted”, backyards were built over, resulting in poorly ventilated dark holes. The water supply and the discharge of sewage were no longer able to cope with the population growth. There were repeated epidemics, the last being a cholera epidemic in 1855. The hygienic conditions had become untenable. In addition, the city was also tight in terms of traffic.
It became clear that better air and light conditions, orderly waste disposal and the rehabilitation of the sewers were necessary. For this purpose, new and more spacious quarters had to be built. However, the city wall stood in the way. Therefore, the Grand Council (the cantonal parliament) passed a law on urban expansion on June 27, 1859. This envisaged the demolition of the city walls, city gates and entrenchments. The city ditches should be filled in and turned into streets and green spaces.
In 1860 the city began to be “de-fortified” and in 1879 it was completed. Of the city gates only the St. Johanns-Tor, the St. Alban-Tor and the Spalentor remained. In the “Dalbeloch” there is still a short piece of the wall and the city moat (“Mühlegraben”). This section of the wall was extensively renovated in the 1970s. The mill ditch in front of the wall in Dalbenloch could previously be flooded with water from the St. Alban pond if necessary. It was filled up after 1869 and later used as a road to the newly built properties on the Graben.
At Wallstrasse, part of the Elisabethenschanze is still preserved, and a short piece of the wall with the Thomasturm can still be seen at St. Johanns-Tor. Some city gates and candle arches had already been demolished before the Grand Council's decision to expand the city, such as the Eselsturm (1821), the Spalenschwibbogen (1838), the Rhine Gate (1839), the Aeschenschwibbogen (1841) and the Ash bulwark (1858).
The court gardener Karl von Effner designed a rigorous greening plan to improve the air. Green areas were laid out where the city walls had stood, and the zoo was opened in 1874. In addition, the drinking water supply was nationalized in 1875 and the construction of an efficient water supply covering the entire city area began. In 1896 a sewer system was finally built.
Course of the city walls
When the city walls were torn down, the former city moats were filled in and turned into streets and green spaces. The course of the walls can still be traced very easily, at least in broad outline, using today's street names.
Inner city wall
Petersgraben
Leonhardsgraben
(Kohlenberg)
(Steinenberg)
St. Alban-Graben
Outer city wall (Grossbasel)
Thomasturm
St. Johanns-Tor
Schanzenstrasse
Hebel-Schanze
Spalentor
Schützengraben
Steinengraben
Steinenschanze
Elisabethenschanze
Wallstrasse
Elisabethenanlage
Aeschengraben
St. Alban-Anlage
St. Alban-Tor
preserved part of the wall near the Mühlegraben in the «Dalbeloch»
Letziturm
Outer city wall (Kleinbasel)
Theodorsgraben
Claragraben
Klingentalgraben
City gates and candle arches
Inner city wall
Outer city wall
- St. Alban's Gate
- St. Johanns Gate
- Spalentor
- Stone gate
- Ash Gate
- Riehentor (in Kleinbasel)
- Wind instrument (in Kleinbasel)
Other gates and candle arches
- Rheintor (at the Rhine bridge on the Grossbasler side)
- Letziturm (at St. Alban-Tor)
- Thomasturm (at St. Johanns-Tor)
- Railway gate (built in the 19th century with the Alsatian railway station)
- Brigitta-Schwibbogen (in St. Alban)
- Upper Rheintörli (on the Kleinbasler Ufer)
- Donkey door
literature
- Paul Siegfried: Basel's softening. In: Basler Jahrbuch 1923 , pp. 81–146.
- Christian Adolf Müller: The Basel gate barriers in the 19th century. In: Basler Stadtbuch 1963 , pp. 13–35.
- Rolf d'Aujourd'hui, Guido Helmig: Burkhard's city wall from the late 11th century. In: Basler Stadtbuch 1983 , pp. 233–242.
