Basel City Hall is a 16th-century building made of red sandstone. It faces the city's main square, Marktplatz.
In 1290 there was already a small town hall here, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1356. The entire city archive was lost. To replace the town hall, the so-called Palace of the Lords was urgently erected, which housed the city municipality. In 1501 Basel joined the Swiss Confederation. The Grand Council, which governed the canton and spared no expense on representative expenditure, decided in 1503 to build a new town hall, which would be connected to the Palace of Lords by a passage.
Construction work, which began in 1504, continued until 1514. The original Palace of Lords, which ended up behind the Town Hall in 1517-1521, was rebuilt. It was used to organise the Great Council Hall, which Hans Holbein the Younger was commissioned to decorate. His frescoes were restored by Hans Bock at the beginning of the next century. In 1608-1609 he also painted the courtyard and the wall above the staircase on the right side. Before 1611, he also painted the coat of arms of Basel on the main façade. The paintings by Holbein the Younger have been partially preserved and are now on display in the Basel Art Museum.
The remains of the Palace of the Lords are considered the oldest part of the town hall. Already in the 20th century, another wing and a high tower were added to the central building, which was built in late Gothic style. At first, the inhabitants of the town rejected the construction of such a tower, but then they accepted it and now they can't imagine their town hall without it.
The interiors of the town hall can be seen by signing up for a tour.
