Riehen, Wettsteinhaus/Spielzeugmuseum. Bild/Photo: TES.

Bettingen and Riehen and Canton Basel-Stadt

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 Romans ‘ departure in the fifth century.

Reconstruction of a Roman farmhouse on the highest point of the Maienbühl. Model: Gemeinde Riehen

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.

St. Martin Church, 11th century

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 UntertanengebietRiehen became a Protestant municipality in 1528. More and more (wealthy) citizens of Basel bought estates.

The new and the old Wettsteinhaus and Museum

After the French revolutionary troops invaded the village in 1798, the village was granted the same rights as Basel. The (French) Mediation Act of 1803 assigned Riehen to the district of Liestal. In 1833, Riehen was transferred to the canton of Basel-City (Basel-Stadt) and became a municipality.

Riehen was a border town for refugees in the Second World War. The Eiserne Hand was a stroke of Swiss territory of hope, life, disillusion and death. 

The Fondation Beyeler is one of the village’s main attractions. (See also the villa Wenkenhof.)

Bettingen shares, more or less, the same history. The canton’s only mountain and its Chrischona complex are another story.

Bettingen

St. Chriscona

Source and further information: Gemeinde Bettingen; Gemeinde Riehen

Impressions of Riehen

Sarasinpark