Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah from Basel
21 November 2024
Basel hosts one of Europe’s first ethnographic museums. The city also had the first public building that today is called a museum. Not surprisingly, many researchers and art collectors of the old Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft) of 13 cantons were active on five continents.
For instance, the most extensive European collection on Afghan literature and culture is housed in a building in the village of Bubendorf (Canton of Basel-Landschaft), and various Swiss-renowned ethnographic museums, university faculties, and other institutes exist, even in small towns.
The Garden and backside of the Haus zum Kirschgarten today
But there is only one Sheikh who was born in Basel and is buried in Cairo. The wealthy manufacturer Johann Rudolf Burckhardt (1750-1813) and his wife Sara Rohner (1761-1825) built and lived in the city palace Haus zum Kirschgarten in Basel in 1784.
The city was also an international centre for trade, science and (textile) industry. Thanks to the arrival of Huguenots in the 17th century, the financial sector (textile) industry and international entrepreneurship flourished. This also manifested itself in the construction of French-oriented city palaces.
One of the first buildings of this type was the Markgräflerhof (1705). Many followed, including the Ramsteinerhof (1732), the Weisse and the Blaue Haus am Rheinsprung (1762-1775), the Wildt’sche Haus am Petersplatz (1764) and, in 1780, the Haus zum Kirschgarten. Burckhardt belonged to one of the most prominent families in Basel. Johann Rudolf Burckhardt spent the summer at Lake Geneva near Lausanne.
He was in close contact with members of the English aristocracy, writers and artists (including Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) and Benjamin Constant (1767-1830). During a stay in Lausanne, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817).
Anton Graff (1736-1813), Johann Ludwig Burckhardt aged two. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
It was the second marriage of Johann Rudolf Burckhardt, who had been married to Anna Maria de Barry (1749-1808). Neither Johann Rudolf Burckhardt nor Sara Rohner could have thought they had given birth to a future Sheikh.
Johann Ludwig, his brother Georg Rudolf (1783-1866), and sister Rosine Valerie (1786-1875) received an education in music, arts, travel, and languages, which was common in the age of Enlightenment, salons, and societies, but the Arab world (ruled by Turkey at the time) was largely unknown territory.
Without the French Revolution and French occupation of the old Eidgenossenschaft in 1798, Johann Ludwig might also have become a merchant and local politician in Basel. However, his father opposed the French Revolution and the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803). For this reason, he sent Johann Ludwig to the gymnasium in Neuchâtel, which the King of Prussia then governed as Prince of Neuchâtel. Prussia was an opponent of France and its revolutionary expansion.
Haus zum Kirschgarten today
Johann Ludwig also studied in Leipzig and Göttingen from 1800 to 1805 before leaving for London in 1805. In 1808, he joined the ‘British Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa’ to chart the trade route from Cairo to Timbuktu.
Johann Ludwig was an excellent choice for the ‘African Association’. He combined ethnological, religious, linguistic, geographical, historical and commercial interests. In a short time, he learnt Arabic and Turkish and studied the Quran. He visited several cities in the region, including Assuan, Esna, Amman, Cairo, Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Palmyra and Homs.
He dressed like a local sheikh and called himself Ibrahim ibn Abdallah. He collected precious Arabic manuscripts.
Johann Ludwig corresponded regularly with his family. Most of these letters are kept in the University Library of Basel and were partly published in 1956. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
He travelled several times with Bedouin, published about their way of life, and regularly reported to the African Association. He was one of the first Europeans to visit Petra, travel the Nile upwards, and visit and research Pyramids and tombs. He was also the first European to report on the temple of Abu Simbel.
He wrote to his mother on 3 July 1815:
“Meine Entdeckungen in Arabia petrae und an dem Nilufer von Egypten nach Dongola haben viel Aufsehen erweckt, und ich schäme mich wirklich, Dir alle diese Lobsprüche zu melden, mit welchen man mich von fallen Seiten in England überhauft” (Letter to his mother, Cairo, 3.7.1815, Collection:Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
He also visited Nubia and the Arabian Peninsula and participated in the ‘Hadsch’ in Mecca. After a three-month stay, he was the first European to write a detailed account of the ‘Hadsch’.
Certificate of Sheikh Ibrahim for participation in the Hadsch. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
He then travelled to Sudan and the important trading city of Schandi. The primary trade goods consisted of Africans, who had been captured by other Africans and sold as enslaved people by Arabs to other Arabs and Turks.
These trips were followed by journeys to Taif, Savakin, Dschidda, Medina, Suez, the Sinai Desert, the Gulf of Aqaba, the already famous St Katharine’s Monastery and Mount Moses, the Dschebel Musa.
From 1810 to 1817, he wrote reports about his travels, experiences, and discoveries for the African Association. He also reported on trade caravans, merchandise, and opportunities for the English textile industry. After all, his father was also a textile manufacturer and trader, and he knew what he was talking about.
Overview of his travels 1810-1817. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
One goal, however, he did not achieve. Because of several local wars and epidemics, he could not map the Cairo to Timbuktu trade route and explore opportunities for English trade and industry.
However, his scientific merits, publications and reports on other trade opportunities were of such a high standard that the African Association patiently and financially supported Sheikh Ibrahim for many years.
Moreover, he sent several artefacts to London and the British Museum, including the colossal statue of Ramses II, in consultation with local authorities who had no interest in these objects.
Turkish governors in the region were also impressed by his writings and commitment and received him with grandeur in their palaces in Cairo, Damascus, Taif and other places.
However, in early October 1817, fate struck, and Sheikh Ibrahim contracted an intestinal infection. On 15 October 1817, he died in Cairo. A sheikh, participant in the Hadtsch and esteemed scholar, Arabist and orientalist, he was interred in the Bab el Nasr cemetery according to Islamic rituals.
Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
His travel reports, diaries, and monograph on the Bedouin and Wahhabis were published in several languages after his death. He placed his experiences and impressions from his humanistic education and childhood in a historical, political, and cultural context without (pre-)judgements, and his writings are still relevant for this reason.
Collection: Historisches Museum Basel (Haus zum Kirschgarten)
His cultural observations and geographic maps were so accurate and valuable that the British Secret Service still used them as a manual in World War II! The Royal House of Jordan awarded Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah, alias Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a high Jordanian order posthumously in 1991.
Lawrence of Arabia (1888-1935) is known to a broad audience. Still, Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah of Basel laid the foundations for knowledge about the Arab and oriental world, language and culture a hundred years earlier.
Haus zum Kirschgarten, the inscription of his last instruction to Henry Salt
Shortly before his death, he gave the final written instructions to the English general consul Henry Salt (1780-1827), including a message to his mother, Sara Rohner.
(Source and further information: Haus zum Kirschgarten; G. Piller, D. Suter (Red.), Scheich Ibrahim. Der Basler Kaufmannssohn und seine Reisen durch den Orient, Basel 2017)
Sebastian Gutzwiller (1798-1872), arond 1830, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Collection: Historisches Museum Basel/Haus zum Kirschgarten