Bettingen and Riehen

16 December 2020

The canton of Basel-Stadt consists of three municipalities: Basel, Riehen and Bettingen. Riehen and Bettingen are located on the right bank of the Rhine.

Riehen was already inhabited before the Roman occupation by the Celts. Alemanni settled after the departure of the Romans in the fifth century.

The name Riehen appears for the first time in a document in 1113. The bishop of Basel and St. Gall and the monasteries of St. Blasien and Wettingen owned estates in the area and the village.

The city of Basel acquired these estates by purchase in 1522 and 1540. Riehen was ruled by a bailiff (Landvogt) and was a so-called Untertanengebiet. Riehen became a Protestant municipality in 1528. More and more (wealthy) citizens of Basel bought estates.

After the invasion of the French revolutionary troops in 1798, the village was granted the same rights as Basel. Riehen was assigned to the district of Liestal by the (French) Mediation Act of 1803. 

Riehen was assigned to the canton of Basel-City (Basel-Stadt) in 1833 and became a municipality. Bettingen shares, more or less, the same history. 

The Fondation Beyeler is one of the main attractions of the village.

Source and further information: Gemeinde Riehen