Page 181 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Switzerland

Must See

A visitor interacting with
one of Jean Tinguely's
kinetic sculptures

however, the area has been
y \-= gentrified and it now buzzes
Kleinbasel with trendy galleries, cafés
The first permanent bridge and restaurants. Did You Know?
over the Rhine at Basel was
built here in 1226. A small Jean Tinguely created
fortress was subsequently his first piece of kinetic
established on the north u "'\= art when he was
12 years old.
bank, and the settle ment Museum Tinguely
that grew up around it ⌂ Paul-Sacher Anlage 2
became part of the city in # 11am–6pm Tue–Sun
the late 14th century. For ∑ tinguely.ch
centuries, Kleinbasel – which Niki de Saint­Phalle. These
translates as “Lesser Basel” – This pale pink sandstone pieces, along with many later
was inhabited mainly by the building, designed by the gifts, bequests and purchases,
poorer sector of the city’s Swiss architect Mario Botta, allow visitors to trace Tinguely’s
population. In recent years, stands in Solitude Park, on artistic development.
the banks of the Rhine. The While various engine­driven
mu seum is devoted to the work contrap tions that visitors can
INSIDER TIP of Jean Tinguely, famous for set in motion occupy the
Museum Pass his kinetic sculptures and inter­ mezzanine, the upper floor
Valid for a full year, the active drawing machines. is home to various items
Museum Pass is a good Born in Fribourg in 1925, he asso ciated with Tinguely.
option if you plan to was edu cated in Basel. He later The central exhibit on the
visit a few of Basel's 37 set tled in New York in 1960, ground floor is a huge sculp­
museums. The pass also but in 1968 he returned to his ture, Tinguely’s Grosse Méta
gets you into castles, native country, where he lived Maxi-Maxi Utopia (1987). The
mu seums, gardens and until his death in 1991. The museum also stages exhibi­
parks across Germany, nucleus of the collection con­ tions concentrating on aspects
France and Switzerland. sists of works by Tinguely, of Tinguely’s work, including
donated by his wife, the artist its Dadaist roots.
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