Trees on Stage in Basel

12 May 2022

Various recent books, a freely accessible app (www.Basel-baeume.ch),  exhibitions (the Museum Kleines Klingental from 14 May 2022, in 2021 the Museum der Kulturen, the Natural History Museum Basel and Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G.) and from 29 April even the theatre play Unter Bäumen about, with and under trees, put the Basler trees in the centre of cultural life.  The budding leaves in the city’s green oases can be seen everywhere, a part of everyday life.

Trees and parks often also mark the site of lost cemeteries and city walls. Many trees have also disappeared over the centuries to make way for roads, urban expansion or renovation projects. Some of these projects are now regretted; others have been more successful. They all share the commonality that they are now viewed through green glasses.

The University of Basel, founded in 1460, was situated on the access road to the Münster. Its botanical garden was founded on the banks of the Rhine. The garden was relocated to another site in 1692, but the contours and trees of its ancient location can still be seen today.

The tree as a protagonist in a theatre play is truly remarkable, however, and stems from the prominent place trees hold in the city’s history.

(Further information: Museum Kleines Klingental, Bäume in Basel, www.mkk.ch; Unter Bäumen, Vorstadttheater Basel)