The Basel city walls are a complex of walls surrounding the central part of the Swiss city of Basel , only partially preserved today. The first city wall was completed around 1080 under bishop Burkhard von Fenis . A newer wall was constructed around 1230, which is known as the Inner Wall . Its course was mostly identical to the Burkhard wall. In 1362 the construction of a larger wall complex began due to the city's expansion; it was completed in 1398, and is known as the Outer Wall . In 1859 the city's executives decided to raze the inner wall and gates to the ground. Three outer city gates and a short piece of the wall were saved from demolition and are being preserved as part of the city's heritage.
7-452: At the end of the 11th century, the growing settlement in the valley was walled, though settlement continued outside the wall. As the town spread up the west slopes surrounding the Birsig river, that section was walled also. At the beginning of the 13th century, all these sections were included within a single wall that embraced both the valley and hill settlements. In 1362, the city began building
14-490: A new, wider city wall, which also enclosed the suburbs. It is possible that the destruction wrought by the earthquake of 1356 contributed to the decision to build a new wall. Among the construction materials were debris from the destruction and Jewish gravestones from the cemetery of the first Jewish community of Basel , which was destroyed in the violence surrounding the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348. The construction of
21-536: Is about 21 kilometres (13 mi) long, and its watershed area is about 82 square kilometres (32 sq mi). It flows variably through Swiss and French territory and through the Birsig Valley . Afterwards it passes the city of Basel , where it enters the Rhine (left bank). The river Birsig originally flowed openly through Basel, but the river was long ago channelled and its banks built up to prevent water damage to
28-576: The Rhine. All the inner gates and walls were demolished between 1860 and 1870: 47°33′34″N 7°35′18″E / 47.55944°N 7.58833°E / 47.55944; 7.58833 Birsig The Birsig is a rather small river in eastern France and northern Switzerland . Its source is in the village Biederthal , in the French Haut-Rhin department, near the Swiss border. The Birsig
35-524: The embedded gravestones were lost. Ten of the few remaining ones are on display in the courtyard of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland . Three gates from the outer wall have been preserved, and today they represent landmarks of Basel and a heritage site of national significance : The inner walls used to encircle the Great Basel (Gross Basel) on the west bank and Small Basel (Kleinbasel) on the east bank of
42-500: The houses. The river flowed directly along the houses in the lower part of the city, where many bridges were built over. It took the fecal waste from the houses and was therefore called "the city's big cloaca ", which favoured the outbreak of cholera and typhus . Nowadays the Birsig is covered over for most of its course in Basel; there are just a few hundred meters around the city zoo where
49-431: The outer city walls was completed in 1398 and these walls lasted until the mid-nineteenth century. In 1859, the city walls were demolished in order to increase space and improve hygiene conditions in the city. The debris from the demolished walls were used to fill in the city moat, and these areas were converted into new streets and spaces, many of which bear names referring to the original wall. During this process, most of
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