The Basel Historical Museum is one of the largest such museums in Switzerland. The main part of its collection is presented in the former ancient church Barfüsserkirche in the Old Town. The exhibition area of the museum is about 6200 metres square. The Historical Museum was established in Basel in 1894. The basis of its collection is a collection of objects from the Middle Ages, which began to be collected half a century earlier.
The museum has three branches at its disposal. The main collection is kept in the Barfüsserkirche, musical instruments are on display in the Music Museum, and a selection of toys, household objects and fine furniture from past centuries are displayed in the so-called Cherry Orchard Mansion. Until 2016, the Museum of Horses and Transport, housed in an old barn at Villa Merian, was among the exhibition spaces of the Historical Museum, but is now closed.
The building of the former Franciscan church Barfüsserkirche, built in 1298 in the late Gothic style, was used for its intended purpose until the first half of the 16th century. During the harsh years of the Reformation, the church was looted and turned into a salt storehouse and then into a barn. This continued until the middle of the XIX century. Then the sacral building was repaired and converted into the Historical Museum.
The museum exposition tells about the history of the city of Basel and the Upper Rhine region. Most of the objects in the museum's collection date from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Here you can see exhibits of the treasury moved here from Basel Cathedral, tapestries from Strasbourg, altars and sacred sculptures, a selection of gold and silver jewellery, ancient coins, valuable stained glass, weapons, etc.
