Messeplatz (Basel)

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Exhibition square with ferris wheel and exhibition tower at night.

The exhibition center is located in the center of Kleinbasel in the Rosental district of the city of Basel . It forms the economic center of Kleinbasel, as the halls of the Basel sample fair are located on it and the Messeturm Basel with the Hotel Ramada Plaza is located on the narrow eastern side . The tower and hotel stand on the site of the Hotel Admiral, which was demolished in 2001. Until it was officially named in 1974, the Messeplatz was part of the Clarastrasse leading to the Mittlere Brücke . Today it is the most important public transport hub between Grossbasel on the one hand and Riehen , the Badischer Bahnhof and the German border area on the other. Tram tracks run along the south side of the square from Badischer Bahnhof towards Grossbasel.

history

Before the exhibition center became the exhibition center, it served a completely different purpose.

On February 19, 1855, took Grand Ducal Baden State Railways (BadStB) her from Mannheim via Heidelberg , Karlsruhe , Freiburg and Haltingen to Basel leading Rheintalbahn in operation. Despite many years of tough negotiations with the Basel authorities a wooden makeshift could only than the intended station Stand reception building are created.

On May 1, 1862, however, the Badische Bahnhof was opened. Just one year later, the rapidly increasing traffic required the first expansion work. In 1892, the Baden State Railways wanted to expand the station facilities and even convert them into a terminal station . But the city of Basel also grew. The further development of the residential areas around the station was hindered by the railway tracks. In March 1900, the parties agreed to relocate the station to Schwarzwaldallee. At the new location, Badischer Bahnhof II opened on September 13, 1913.

The track systems at the old location were dismantled. However, the station building remained there for over 10 years. The former Bahnhofstrasse was renamed Riehenring. The vacated space around the old train station was used that same year for the Basel autumn fair and after the First World War for the sample fair . The station building served as a factory and warehouse and was demolished in December 1923.

In the change of time

From 1855 to 1913, the first Baden train station was on Bahnhofsstrasse .

From 1917 the Bahnhofstrasse was renamed Riehenring . This name has remained unchanged to this day. In the same year, the first sample fair was held on the site.

From around 1925 the area was called the sample fair .

In 1926, the Swiss Sample Fair Cooperative, founded in 1920, built the first permanent exhibition hall.

The official name has been Messeplatz since 2001 .

The tram stop has been located under the City Lounge in the new Hall 1 since 2013.

The exhibition center is used annually for the Basel autumn fair .

During the European Football Championship in 2008 , the square was an additional public viewing zone.

The seat

Landmark of the Basel Exhibition Center
Exhibition tower next to Hall 2

From a bird's eye view, you can see that Messe Basel was painted on the asphalt in huge white letters .

The landmark of Messe Basel is to the north of the exhibition center. Hall 2, built between 1953 and 1954, with the large clock on the glass facade and the open, round inner courtyard. In front of the hall is an elongated rectangular water basin with periodically rising fountains.

At the eastern end is the exhibition tower , built between 2001 and 2003 . With its 31 floors and a height of 105 meters, it is one of the tallest, habitable buildings in Switzerland.

At the south / east end the square borders on the Rosentalanlage . Today an open space on which the Rosentalgottesacker, closed in 1890 and completely cleared by 1914, was once located. Only the abdication chapel designed by Melchior Berri has been preserved from that time and stands in the shade of beautiful, old trees. Nowadays, circuses are frequent guests on the Rosentalanlage, while rides occupy the facility during the autumn fair .

On the southern edge of the square, between the Rosentalanlage and the new exhibition hall 1, is the exhibition car park, built in 1974, with 1,200 parking spaces.

On its western edge, the exhibition center is bounded by the new exhibition hall 1, which was built between 2011 and 2013 based on a design by the Basel architects Herzog & de Meuron . The so-called City Lounge, with a circular light opening in the middle, spans the passage to the exhibition center. This also includes the Messeplatz tram stop . In order to be able to realize the new building, the exhibition hall 1 with its head building erected between 1924 and 1926 by Hermann Herter in the style of Art Déco , as well as the hall 3 built between 1963 and 1965, had to be demolished. The new Hall 1 now runs from Riehenstrasse, along Riehenring, to Maulbeerstrasse.

Web links

Commons : Messeplatz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hotel Admiral at Messeplatz, where the exhibition tower was built
  2. Rosentalgottesacker
  3. For example the Circus Knie , or the Circus Nock
  4. Construction and staging of the new exhibition center above the exhibition center
  5. Andrea Weibel: Hermann Herter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 23, 2013 , accessed July 7, 2019 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '54.6 "  N , 7 ° 36' 4.7"  E ; CH1903:  612 242  /  two hundred sixty-eight thousand two hundred eighty-six