Museum der Kulturen Basel

I was here on May 1st (which is a holiday), and even though almost every other shop in the city was closed, thank god this museum wasn't. It was the most immersive and amazing experience, and I wish I could go back just to spend more time in the exhibitions.

More specifically their current exhibition on the 3rd floor called 'Remembering and Forgetting', about how we as different cultures hold memories and communicate through different devices. It was eye-opening and so beautiful. The text for the exhibition was incredibly well written and took accountability for how some cultures (white and western culture) have erased and continues to erase the history and memory of indigenous cultures, by removing their culture and how to preserve that memory.
The exhibition was very broad, raging from travel-souvenirs, to 1800-century tallies, to religious books, to how we talk about death and honouring the dead - because that is the essential in remembering; do we want to be remembered or set free?

Regarding the opening hours of the museum - as I was there May 1st, it was actually a Monday (where the museum is closed normally), but because it was a holiday, it was open. Very strange, but worth noting.

Interesting small museum where you can see exhibits from parts of the world that you cannot see in another museum.

Fantastic ethnographic museum with an extensive collection of over 340000 items, considered one of the largest in Europe. Interestingly, the exhibits are not displayed by location or culture, but curated by topics. Covering four floors, one could easily spend half a day. Exit through the well done gift shop, that offers items related to current exhibits. Free lockers available. Wheelchair accessible.

It's a place worth to visit. We were very impressed. Very amazing expositions, a lot of details and different interesting cultures to explore! Thank you for such a magic place!

I have seen the reviews about the lack of translations into other languages than German, however, each floor has paper translations of the exhibitions located at the entrence.

I do admit it is easily overlooked and I question if this is cost effective compared to the simple translation next to the exhibit pieces.

There is an alternative. If you have Google lense, you can make a picture of the local text and translate it in real time. It is very accurate.

Now, what has the museum to offer. Amazing perspectives for a country that has no colonial past. When I was visiting there was an exhibition about Buddha. Information was basic but enough to comprehend. What I was drawn to was the identity exhibition on the third floor. It shows the way of retaining a cultural identity during opression, which is something lauded in my opinion. Especially when it comes from an oppressive society or something with a colonial past.

I think this museum has potential, especially when you think that this country with no colonian past that has anthropological pieces from countries that have a colonial past.

Not your usual ethnographic museum. Instead of grouping the collection by cultures or geographies the exhibitions are presented through aspects of human existence. The artifacts are presented through the lens of how people across the globe and through times have made sense of the world they live in. That is a fresh and interesting take and makes the visit both educational and entertaining. Overall, worth a visit for its well curated exhibitions and concept.

I liked this museum a lot, could easily spend the whole day reading and contemplating about the art work.

They do have WiFi now in the entire building if you want to download a digital copy of the explanation in English or French, of course there are also have hardcopies at the entrance on each floor.

This museum lets you entry for free on the first sunday of the month, which I really love about many museums here. There are four floors with different exhibitions, all of them worth visiting in my opinion. I loved the Kulthaus which ranged through almost all of the floors and the gigantic wooden figures!