About this place
Rising above the quiet, tree-shaded Peterskirchplatz at the northern edge of the old town, the Peterskirche is one of Grossbasel's four ancient parish churches and a survivor of nearly a thousand years of city history. A place of worship stood here in Carolingian times, and by the eleventh century it served the growing parish. The three-nave basilica you see today, with its arcades of red sandstone pillars and whitewashed walls, took shape in the Gothic era, was gutted by the catastrophic earthquake of 1356, and was rebuilt with a redesigned choir. Since Basel embraced the Reformation in 1529 it has been an evangelical reformed church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Behind its plain reformed austerity, layers of medieval fresco whitewashed after 1529 have been painstakingly uncovered, making the interior a quiet treasury of Gothic art.
Key facts
- 1356 year — The great Basel earthquake shattered the church, forcing a Gothic rebuild of the choir
- 1529 year — Basel's Reformation turned it into an evangelical reformed church
- 4 churches — One of Grossbasel's four ancient parish churches in the old town
📍 Peterskirchplatz, 4031, Basel