Barfüsserplatz
Basel's buzzing central square, ringed by cafes, shops and rattling trams, and anchored by the pale stone Barfüsserkirche that today shelters the Historical Museum. It is the beating social heart of the old town and one of the great stages of the Basel Carnival.
Su questo luogo
Barfüsserplatz takes its name from the barefoot Franciscan friars who settled here in the thirteenth century and built their humble convent church on ground where the little Birsig stream once ran through the medieval city wall. When Basel embraced the Reformation in 1529 the friars were driven out and their church was put to secular use as a store and salt warehouse, before being lovingly rebuilt in the 1890s to house the Basel Historical Museum. Today the square is Basel in miniature: trams from across the city converge here, students and shoppers spill out of the surrounding cafes, and during the famous Fasnacht carnival the piercing piccolos and thundering drums of the Guggenmusik bands fill the space until the small hours. Elegant yet unpretentious, it is the place where Basel comes to meet itself.
Fatti principali
- 1231 year — The Franciscan 'barefoot' friars first came to Basel and gave the square its name
- 1894 year — The deconsecrated Barfüsserkirche reopened as the Basel Historical Museum
- 3 squares — One of the three great squares where Carnival bands perform, with Marktplatz and Claraplatz
📍 Barfüsserplatz, 4001, Basel