The Museum der Kulturen Basel is an ethnographic museum at Münsterplatz 20 in Basel. Melchior Berri built the original in 1849 in a classicist style, as the city's first museum building, on the site of an Augustinian monastery. Vischer and Söhne added an extension in 1917. Herzog and de Meuron then gave that 1917 building a new roof.
The architects drew up the concept in 2001 and 2002 and built from 2008 to 2010. The museum reopened in September 2011. The roof has irregular folds, a scaly crown clad in blackish-green hexagonal ceramic tiles. A steel framework carries it, which leaves a column-free gallery below.
The entrance moved to the rear courtyard, reached from Münsterplatz, and part of the courtyard was lowered. A floor was removed to make a two-story gallery. Hanging plants and vines climb a spiral structure under the eaves. The collection holds about 300,000 objects.
This building has no Wikipedia article. Facts come from Dezeen, Museum der Kulturen Basel.
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