Basel - Great Swiss Collectors

"Basel is a city for art lovers, being rich in both culture and design. Nowhere else seamlessly blends history and tradition with the cutting-edge quite like this magnetic city." – Expert guide, Tom Abbott Thanks to its position of the banks of the mighty Rhine, Basel has been an important centre of trading, culture and learning since the Renaissance period. The University of Basel, Switzerland’s oldest, was founded here in 1460 by Pope Pius II. Such was its renown by the 16th century that the great Dutch scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam travelled to the city to teach at the institution for several years. Hans Holbein the Younger also arrived in the city during this period, finding a thriving paper and printing industry as well as a flourishing circle of humanist scholars and prosperous patricians, fertile ground for a young and ambitious artist. Holbein spent a decade working in the city and it was owing to this connection that in 1661 the city fathers purchased 20 works by the artist. Basel’s art collection has since swelled to an impressive 40 museums and galleries, and an established cultural status, coupled with a lucrative pharmaceuticals industry, has seen the construction of several landmark buildings designed by some of the most eminent contemporary architects of our time.