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Basel

Basel, also known as Basle, is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the River Rhine (at the transition from the High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich and Geneva), with 177,595 inhabitants within the city municipality limits. The official language of Basel is Swiss Standard German and the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect.

Basel is commonly considered to be the cultural capital of Switzerland and the city is famous for its many museums, including the Kunstmuseum, which is the first collection of art accessible to the public in the world (1661) and the largest museum of art in Switzerland, the Fondation Beyeler (located in Riehen), the Museum Tinguely and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is the first public museum of contemporary art in Europe. Forty museums are spread throughout the city-canton, making Basel one of the largest cultural centres in relation to its size and population in Europe.

The University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university (founded in 1460), and the city's centuries-long commitment to humanism, have made Basel a safe haven at times of political unrest in other parts of Europe for such notable people as Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Holbein family, Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Jung, and in the 20th century also Hermann Hesse and Karl Jaspers.

Basel was the seat of a Prince-Bishopric starting in the 11th century, and joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1501. The city has been a commercial hub and an important cultural centre since the Renaissance, and has emerged as a centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in the 20th century. In 1897, Basel was chosen by Theodor Herzl as the location for the first World Zionist Congress, and altogether the congress was held there ten times over a time span of 50 years, more than in any other location. The city is also home to the world headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements. The name of the city is internationally known through institutions like the Basel Accords, Art Basel and FC Basel.

Basel is Switzerland's main centre for the pharmaceutical industry, hosting both Novartis and Roche.

In 2019 Basel was ranked the tenth most liveable city in the world by Mercer.

Name
The name of Basel is first recorded as Basilia in the 3rd century (237/8), at the time referring to the Roman castle. This name is mostly interpreted as deriving from the personal name Basilius, from a toponym villa Basilia ("estate of Basilius") or similar.

Another suggestion derives it from a name Basilia attested in northern France as a development of basilica, the term for a public or church building (as in Bazeilles), but all of these names reference early church buildings of the 4th or 5th century and cannot be adduced for the 3rd-century attestation of Basilia.

By popular etymology, or simple assonance, the basilisk becomes closely associated with the city, used as heraldic supporter from 1448, represented on coins minted by the city, and frequently found in ornaments.

The Middle French form Basle was adopted into English, but this form has fallen gradually out of use although it continues to be used in some sections of British English including the BBC. Currently, the spelling Basel is most often used, to match the official German spelling. In French Basle was still in use in the 18th century, but was gradually replaced by the modern French spelling Bâle. In Icelandic, the city is recorded as Buslaraborg in the 12th-century itinerary Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan.

Early history
There are traces of a settlement at the nearby Rhine knee from the early La Tène period (5th century BC). In the 2nd century BC, there was a village of the Raurici at the site of Basel-Gasfabrik (to the northwest of the Old City, and likely identical with the town of Arialbinnum that was mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana). The unfortified settlement was abandoned in the 1st century BC in favour of an oppidum on the site of Basel Minster, probably in reaction to the Roman invasion of Gaul.

In Roman Gaul, Augusta Raurica was established some 20 km from Basel as the regional administrative centre, while a castrum (fortified camp) was built on the site of the Celtic oppidum. In AD 83, the area was incorporated into the Roman province of Germania Superior. The Roman Senator Munatius Plancus is known as the traditional founder of Basel since the Renaissance. Roman control over the area deteriorated in the 3rd century, and Basel became an outpost of the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum formed by Diocletian. Basilia is first named by the Ammianus Marcellinus in his Res Gestae as part of the Roman military fortifications along the Rhine in the late 4th century.

The Germanic confederation of the Alemanni attempted to cross the Rhine several times in the 4th century, but were repelled; one such event was the Battle of Solicinium (368). However, in the great invasion of AD 406, the Alemanni appear to have crossed the Rhine a final time, conquering and then settling what is today Alsace and a large part of the Swiss Plateau.

The Duchy of Alemannia fell under Frankish rule in the 6th century. The Alemannic and Frankish settlement of Basel gradually grew around the old Roman castle in the 6th and 7th century. It appears that Basel surpassed the ancient regional capital of Augusta Raurica by the 7th century; based on the evidence of a gold tremissis (a small gold coin with the value of a third of a solidus) with the inscription Basilia fit, Basel seems to have minted its own coins in the 7th century.

Basel at this time was part of the Archdiocese of Besançon. A separate bishopric of Basel, replacing the ancient bishopric of Augusta Raurica, was established in the 8th century. Under bishop Haito (r. 806–823), the first cathedral was built on the site of the Roman castle (replaced by a Romanesque structure consecrated in 1019).

At the partition of the Carolingian Empire through the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Basel was first given to West Francia and became its German exclave. It passed to East Francia with the Treaty of Meerssen of 870. Basel was destroyed by the Magyars in 917. The rebuilt town became part of Upper Burgundy, and as such was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1032.

Prince-Bishopric of Basel

From the donation by Rudolph III of Burgundy of the Moutier-Grandval Abbey and all its possessions to Bishop Adalbero II of Metz in 999 until the Reformation, Basel was ruled by Prince-Bishops.

In 1019, the construction of the cathedral of Basel (known locally as the Münster) began under Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.

In the 11th to 12th century, Basel gradually acquired the characteristics of a medieval city. The main market place is first mentioned in 1091. The first city walls were constructed around 1100 (with improvements made in the mid-13th and in the late 14th century). A city council of nobles and burghers is recorded for 1185, and the first mayor, Heinrich Steinlin of Murbach, for 1253. The first bridge across the Rhine was built in 1225 under bishop Heinrich von Thun (at the location of the modern Middle Bridge), and from this time the settlement of Kleinbasel gradually formed around the bridgehead on the far river bank. The bridge was largely funded by Basel's Jewish community who had settled there a century earlier. For many centuries to come Basel possessed the only permanent bridge over the river "between Lake Constance and the sea". The first city guild were the  furriers, established in 1226. A total of about fifteen guilds were established in the course of the 13th century, reflecting the increasing economic prosperity of the city. The Crusade of 1267 set out from Basel.

Political conflicts between the bishops and the burghers began in the mid-13th century and continued throughout the 14th century. By the late 14th century, the city was for all practical purposes independent although it continued to nominally pledge fealty to the bishops. The House of Habsburg attempted to gain control over the city. This was not successful, but it caused a political split among the burghers of Basel into a pro-Habsburg faction, known as Sterner, and an anti-Habsburg faction, the Psitticher. The Black Death reached Basel in 1348. The Jews were blamed, and an estimated 50 to 70 Jews were executed by burning on 16 January 1349 in what has become known as the Basel massacre. The Basel earthquake of 1356 destroyed much of the city along with a number of castles in the vicinity.

A riot on 26 February 1376, known as Böse Fasnacht, led to the killing of a number of men of Leopold III, Duke of Austria. This was seen as a serious breach of the peace, and the city council blamed "foreign ruffians" for this and executed twelve alleged perpetrators. Leopold nevertheless had the city placed under imperial ban, and in a treaty of 9 July, Basel was given a heavy fine and was placed under Habsburg control. To free itself from Habsburg hegemony, Basel joined the Swabian League of Cities in 1385, and many knights of the pro-Habsburg faction, along with duke Leopold himself, were killed in the Battle of Sempach the following year. A formal treaty with Habsburg was made in 1393.

Basel had gained its de facto independence from both the bishop and from the Habsburgs and was free to pursue its own policy of territorial expansion, beginning around 1400.

The unique representation of a bishops' crozier as the heraldic charge in the coat of arms of Basel first appears in the form of a gilded wooden staff in the 12th century. It is of unknown origin or significance (beyond its obvious status of bishop's crozier), but it is assumed to have represented a relic, possibly attributed to Saint Germanus of Granfelden. This staff (known as Baselstab) became a symbol representing the Basel diocese, depicted in bishops' seals of the late medieval period. It is represented in a heraldic context in the early 14th century, not yet as a heraldic charge but as a kind of heraldic achievement flanked by the heraldic shields of the bishop. The staff is also represented in the bishops's seals of the period. The use of the Baselstab in black as the coat of arms of the city was introduced in 1385. From this time, the Baselstab in red represented the bishop, and the same charge in black represented the city. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is In Silber ein schwarzer Baselstab (Argent, a staff of Basel sable). In 1400, Basel was able to purchase the towns of Liestal, Homburg and Waldenburg with its surrounding territory.

In 1412 (or earlier), the well-known Gasthof zum Goldenen Sternen was established. Basel became the focal point of western Christendom during the 15th century Council of Basel (1431–1449), including the 1439 election of antipope Felix V. In 1459, Pope Pius II endowed the University of Basel, where such notables as Erasmus of Rotterdam and Paracelsus later taught. At the same time the new craft of printing was introduced to Basel by apprentices of Johann Gutenberg. In 1461, the land around Farnsburg became a part of Basel.

The Schwabe publishing house was founded in 1488 by Johannes Petri and is the oldest publishing house still in business. Johann Froben also operated his printing house in Basel and was notable for publishing works by Erasmus. In 1495, Basel was incorporated into the Upper Rhenish Imperial Circle; the Bishop of Basel was added to the Bench of the Ecclesiastical Princes of the Imperial Diet. In 1500 the construction of the Basel Münster was finished.

As a member state in the Swiss Confederacy
The city had remained neutral through the Swabian War of 1499 despite being plundered by soldiers on both sides. The Treaty of Basel ended the war and granted the Swiss confederates exemptions from the emperor Maximillian's taxes and jurisdictions, separating Switzerland de facto from the Holy Roman Empire.

On 9 June 1501, Basel joined the Swiss Confederation as its eleventh canton. It was the only canton that was asked to join, not the other way round. Basel had a strategic location, good relations with Strasbourg and Mulhouse, and control of the corn imports from Alsace, whereas the Swiss lands were becoming overpopulated and had few resources. A provision of the Charter accepting Basel required that in conflicts among the other cantons it was to stay neutral and offer its services for mediation.

In 1503, the new bishop Christoph von Utenheim refused to give Basel a new constitution; whereupon, to show its power, the city began to build a new city hall.

In 1529, the city became Protestant under Oecolampadius and the bishop's seat was moved to Porrentruy. The bishop's crook was however retained as the city's coat of arms. For centuries to come, a handful of wealthy families collectively referred to as the "Daig" played a pivotal role in city affairs as they gradually established themselves as a de facto city aristocracy.

The first edition of Christianae religionis institutio (Institutes of the Christian Religion – John Calvin's great exposition of Calvinist doctrine) was published at Basel in March 1536.

In 1544, Johann von Brugge, a rich Dutch Protestant refugee, was given citizenship and lived respectably until his death in 1556, then buried with honors. His body was exhumed and burnt at the stake in 1559 after it was discovered that he was the Anabaptist David Joris.

In 1543, De humani corporis fabrica, the first book on human anatomy, was published and printed in Basel by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564).

There are indications Joachim Meyer, author of the influential 16th-century martial arts text Kunst des Fechten ("The Art of Fencing"), came from Basel. In 1661 the Amerbaschsches Kabinett, a vast collection of exotic artifacts, coins, medals and books was purchased by Basel. It was to become to the first public museum of art. Its collection became the core of the later Basel Museum of Art.

The Bernoulli family, which included important 17th- and 18th-century mathematicians such as Jakob Bernoulli, Johann Bernoulli and Daniel Bernoulli, were from Basel. The 18th-century mathematician Leonhard Euler was born in Basel and studied under Johann Bernoulli.

Modern history
In 1792, the Republic of Rauracia, a revolutionary French client republic, was created. It lasted until 1793. After three years of political agitation and a short civil war in 1833 the disadvantaged countryside seceded from the Canton of Basel, forming the half canton of Basel-Landschaft. Between 1861 and 1878 the city walls were slighted.

On 3 July 1874, Switzerland's first zoo, the Zoo Basel, opened its doors in the south of the city towards Binningen. In 1897 the first World Zionist Congress was held in Basel. Altogether the World Zionist Congress was held in Basel ten times, more than in any other city in the world.

On 16 November 1938, the psychedelic drug LSD was first synthesized by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel.

In 1967, the population of Basel voted in favor of buying three works of art by painter Pablo Picasso which were at risk of being sold and taken out of the local museum of art, due to a financial crisis on the part of the owner's family. Therefore, Basel became the first city in the world where the population of a political community democratically decided to acquire works of art for a public institution. Pablo Picasso was so moved by the gesture that he subsequently gifted the city with an additional three paintings.

Basel as a historical, international meeting place
Basel has often been the site of peace negotiations and other international meetings. The Treaty of Basel (1499) ended the Swabian War. Two years later Basel joined the Swiss Confederation. The Peace of Basel in 1795 between the French Republic and Prussia and Spain ended the First Coalition against France during the French Revolutionary Wars. In more recent times, the World Zionist Organization held its first congress in Basel from 29 August through 31 August 1897. Because of the Balkan Wars, the (Socialist) Second International held an extraordinary congress at Basel in 1912. In 1989, the Basel Convention was opened for signature with the aim of preventing the export of hazardous waste from wealthy to developing nations for disposal.

Location
Basel is located in Northwestern Switzerland and is commonly considered to be the capital of that region. It is close to the point where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, and Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany. , the Swiss Basel agglomeration was the third-largest in Switzerland, with a population of 541,000 in 74 municipalities in Switzerland (municipal count as of 2018). The metropolitan area, called the Trinational Eurodistrict of Basel (TEB), consists of 62 suburban communes including municipalities in neighboring countries, and counted 829,000 inhabitants in 2007.

Topography
Basel has an area,, of 23.91 km2. Of this area, 0.95 km2 or 4.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.88 km2 or 3.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 20.67 km2 or 86.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.45 km2 or 6.1% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 10.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 40.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 24.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.7% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 8.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 2.5% is used for growing crops and 1.3% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Climate
Under the Köppen system, Basel features an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), although with notable continental influences due to its relatively far inland position with cool to cold, overcast winters and warm to hot, humid summers.

The city averages 118.2 days of rain or snow annually and on average receives 842 mm of precipitation. The wettest month is May during which time Basel receives an average of 98 mm of rain. The month with the most days of precipitation is also May, with an average of 11.7 days. The driest month of the year is February with an average of 45 mm of precipitation over 8.4 days.

Politics
The city of Basel functions as the capital of the Swiss half-canton of Basel-Stadt.

Canton
The canton Basel-Stadt consists of three municipalities: Riehen, Bettingen, and the city Basel itself. The political structure and agencies of the city and the canton are identical.

Quarters
The city itself has 19 quarters:

 * Grossbasel (Greater Basel):

 * 1 Altstadt Grossbasel
 * 2 Vorstädte
 * 3 Am Ring
 * 4 Breite
 * 5 St. Alban
 * 6 Gundeldingen
 * 7 Bruderholz
 * 8 Bachletten
 * 9 Gotthelf
 * 10 Iselin
 * 11 St. Johann

 * Kleinbasel (Lesser Basel):

 * 12 Altstadt Kleinbasel
 * 13 Clara
 * 14 Wettstein
 * 15 Hirzbrunnen
 * 16 Rosental
 * 17 Matthäus
 * 18 Klybeck
 * 19 Kleinhüningen

Government
The city's and canton's executive, the Executive Council (Regierungsrat), consists of seven members for a mandate period of 4 years. They are elected by any inhabitant valid to vote on the same day as the parliament, but by means of a system of Majorz, and operates as a collegiate authority. The president (Regierungspräsident(in)) is elected as such by a public election, while the heads of the other departments are appointed by the collegiate. The current president is Beat Jans. The executive body holds its meetings in the red Town Hall (Rathaus) on the central Marktplatz. The building was built in 1504–14.

, Basel's Executive Council is made up of three representatives of the SP (Social Democratic Party) including the president, two LDP (Liberal-Demokratische Partei of Basel), and one member each of Green Liberals (glp), and CVP (Christian Democratic Party). The last election was held on 25 October and 29 November 2020 and four new members have been elected.

Barbara Schüpbach-Guggenbühlis is State Chronicler (Staatsschreiberin) since 2009, and Marco Greiner is Head of Communication (Regierungssprecher) and Vice State Chronicler (Vizestaatsschreiber) since 2007 for the Executive Council.

Parliament
The city's and canton's parliament, the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt (Grosser Rat), consists of 100 seats, with members (called in German: Grossrat/Grossrätin) elected every 4 years. The sessions of the Grand Council are public. Unlike the members of the Executive Council, the members of the Grand Council are not politicians by profession, but they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Basel allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the parliament. The delegates are elected by means of a system of Proporz. The legislative body holds its meetings in the red Town Hall (Rathaus).

The last election was held on 25 October 2020 for the mandate period (Legislatur) of 2021–2025. , the Grand Council consist of 30 (−5) members of the Social Democratic Party (SP), 18 (+5) Grün-Alternatives Bündnis (GAB) (a collaboration of the Green Party (GPS), its junior party, and Basels starke Alternative (BastA!)), 14 (−1) Liberal-Demokratische Partei (LDP), 11 (−4) members of the Swiss People's Party (SVP), 8 (+5) Green Liberal Party (glp), 7 (−3) The Liberals (FDP), 7 (-) Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP), 3 (+2) Evangelical People's Party (EVP), and one each representative of the Aktive Bettingen (AB) and Volks-Aktion gegen zuviele Ausländer und Asylanten in unserer Heimat (VA).

The left parties missed an absolute majority by two seats.

National Council
In the 2019 federal election the most popular party was the Social Democratic Party (SP) which received two seats with 34% (−1) of the votes. The next five most popular parties were the Green Party (GPS) (19.4%, +7.3), the LPS (14.5%, +3.6) and the FDP (5.8, −3.5), which are chained together at 20.3%, (+0.1), the SVP (11.3%, -5.5), and the Green Liberal Party (GLP) (5%, +0.6), CVP (4.1%, -1.9). In the federal election, a total of 44,628 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.4%.

On 18 October 2015, in the federal election the most popular party was the Social Democratic Party (SP) which received two seats with 35% of the votes. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (20.2%), the SVP (16.8%), and the Green Party (GPS) (12.2%), each with one seat. In the federal election, a total of 57,304 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 50.4%.

Council of States
On 20 October 2019, in the federal election Eva Herzog, member of the Social Democratic Party (SP), was elected for the first time as a State Councillor (Ständerätin) in the first round as single representative of the canton of Basel-Town and successor of Anita Fetz in the national Council of States (Ständerat) with an absolute majority of 37'210 votes.

On 18 October 2015, in the federal election State Councillor (Ständerätin) Anita Fetz, member of the Social Democratic Party (SP), was re-elected in the first round as single representative of the canton of Basel-Town in the national Council of States (Ständerat) with an absolute majority of 35'842 votes. She has been a member of it since 2003.

Twin towns, sister cities and partner regions
Basel has two sister cities and a twinning among two states:

 * 🇺🇸 US state of Massachusetts, since 2002
 * Shanghai, China, since 2007
 * 🇯🇵 Toyama Prefecture, Japan, since 2009
 * 🇺🇸 Miami Beach, US, since 2011
 * 🇨🇮 Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since 2021
 * 🇰🇷 Seoul, South Korea, since 2022

Partner cities

 * 🇳🇱 Rotterdam, Netherlands, since 1945

Population
The canton of Basel (slightly more than the city itself) has a population of 201,971, of whom 36.9% are resident foreign nationals.

Over the 10 years of 1999–2009 the population has changed at a rate of −0.3%. It has changed at a rate of 3.2% due to migration and at a rate of −3% due to births and deaths.

Of the population in the municipality 58,560 or about 35.2% were born in Basel and lived there in 2000. There were 1,396 or 0.8% who were born in the same canton, while 44,874 or 26.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 53,774 or 32.3% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 898 live births to Swiss citizens and 621 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 1,732 deaths of Swiss citizens and 175 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 834 while the foreign population increased by 446. There were 207 Swiss men and 271 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 1756 non-Swiss men and 1655 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 278 and the non-Swiss population increased by 1138 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.9%.

, there were 70,502 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 70,517 married individuals, 12,435 widows or widowers, and 13,104 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.59 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.58 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m2 as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 10.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage or a rent-to-own agreement). , there were 86,371 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.8 persons per household. There were 44,469 households that consist of only one person and 2,842 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 88,646 households that answered this question, 50.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 451 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 20,472 married couples without children, 14,554 married couples with children There were 4,318 single parents with a child or children. There were 2,107 households that were made up of unrelated people and 2,275 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 5,747 single family homes (or 30.8% of the total) out of a total of 18,631 inhabited buildings. There were 7,642 multi-family buildings (41.0%), along with 4,093 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (22.0%) and 1,149 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.2%). Of the single family homes 1090 were built before 1919, while 65 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (3,474) were built between 1919 and 1945.

there were 96,640 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 35,958. There were 11,957 single room apartments and 9,702 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 84,675 apartments (87.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 7,916 apartments (8.2%) were seasonally occupied and 4,049 apartments (4.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.6 new units per 1000 residents.

the average price to rent an average apartment in Basel was 1118.60 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$890, £500, €720 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 602.27 CHF (US$480, £270, €390), a two-room apartment was about 846.52 CHF (US$680, £380, €540), a three-room apartment was about 1054.14 CHF (US$840, £470, €670) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 2185.24 CHF (US$1750, £980, €1400). The average apartment price in Basel was 100.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0.74%.

Language
In 2000, most of the population spoke German (129,592 or 77.8%), with Italian being second most common (9,049 or 5.4%) and French being third (4,280 or 2.6%). There were 202 people who spoke Romansh.

Religion
From the, 41,916 or 25.2% were Roman Catholic, while 39,180 or 23.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 4,567 members of an Orthodox church (or about 2.74% of the population), 459 individuals (or about 0.28% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church and 3,464 individuals (or about 2.08% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 12,368 individuals (or about 7.43% of the population) who were Muslim, 1,325 individuals (or about 0.80% of the population) who were Jewish, however only members of religious institutions are counted as such by the municipality, which makes the actual number of people of Jewish descent living in Basel considerably higher. There were 746 individuals who were Buddhist, 947 individuals who were Hindu and 485 individuals who belonged to another church. 52,321 (or about 31.41% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 8,780 individuals (or about 5.27% of the population) did not answer the question.

Quarters
Basel is subdivided into 19 quarters (Quartiere). The municipalities of Riehen and Bettingen, outside the city limits of Basel, are included in the canton of Basel-Stadt as rural quarters (Landquartiere).

Transport
Basel's airport, EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, is set up for airfreight; heavy goods reach the city and the heart of continental Europe from the North Sea by ship along the Rhine.

Port
Basel has Switzerland's only cargo port, through which goods pass along the navigable stretches of the Rhine and connect to ocean-going ships at the port of Rotterdam.

Air transport
EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg is operated jointly by two countries, France and Switzerland, although the airport is located completely on French soil. The airport itself is split into two architecturally independent sectors, one half serving the French side and the other half serving the Swiss side; prior to Schengen there was an immigration inspection point at the middle of the airport so that people could "emigrate" to the other side of the airport.

Railways
Basel has long held an important place as a rail hub. Three railway stations—those of the German, French and Swiss networks—lie within the city (although the Swiss (Basel SBB) and French (Bâle SNCF) stations are actually in the same complex, separated by Customs and Immigration facilities). Basel Badischer Bahnhof is on the opposite side of the city. Basel's local rail services are supplied by the Basel Regional S-Bahn. The largest goods railway complex of the country is located just outside the city, spanning the municipalities of Muttenz and Pratteln. The new highspeed ICE railway line from Karlsruhe to Basel was completed in 2008 while phase I of the TGV Rhin-Rhône line, opened in December 2011, has reduced travel time from Basel to Paris to about 3 hours.

Roads
Basel is located on the A3 motorway.

Within the city limits, five bridges connect Greater and Lesser Basel (downstream):

 * Schwarzwaldbrücke (built 1972)
 * Wettsteinbrücke (current structure built 1998, original bridge built 1879)
 * Mittlere Rheinbrücke (current structure built 1905, original bridge built 1225 as the first bridge to cross the Rhine)
 * Johanniterbrücke (built 1967)
 * Dreirosenbrücke (built 2004, original bridge built 1935)

Ferries
A somewhat anachronistic yet still widely used system of reaction ferry boats links the two shores. There are four ferries, each situated approximately midway between two bridges. Each is attached by a cable to a block that rides along another cable spanning the river at a height of 20 to 30 m. To cross the river, the ferryman orients the boat around 45° from the current so that the current pushes the boat across the river. This form of transportation is therefore completely hydraulically driven, requiring no outside energy source. Home/Aktuell – Fähri Verein Basel

Public transport
Basel has an extensive public transportation network serving the city and connecting to surrounding suburbs, including a large tram network. Today, Basel has the largest tramway in terms of kilometers of rail tracks in Switzerland. Historically, only Geneva had a larger one at some point.

The green-colored local trams and buses are operated by the Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB). The yellow-colored buses and trams are operated by the Baselland Transport (BLT), and connect areas in the nearby half-canton of Baselland to central Basel. The BVB also shares commuter bus lines in cooperation with transit authorities in the neighboring Alsace region in France and Baden region in Germany. The Basel Regional S-Bahn, the commuter rail network connecting to suburbs surrounding the city, is jointly operated by SBB, SNCF and DB.

Border crossings
Basel is located at the meeting point of France, Germany, and Switzerland; because it sits on the Swiss national border and is beyond the Jura Mountains, many within the Swiss military reportedly believe that the city is indefensible during wartime. It has numerous road and rail crossings between Switzerland and the other two countries. With Switzerland joining the Schengen Area on 12 December 2008, immigration checks were no longer carried out at the crossings. However, Switzerland did not join the European Union Customs Union (though it did join the EU Single Market) and customs checks are still conducted at or near the crossings.

France-Switzerland (from east to west)
 * Road crossings (with French road name continuation)
 * Kohlenstrasse (Avenue de Bâle, Huningue). This crossing replaces the former crossing Hüningerstrasse further east.
 * Elsässerstrasse (Avenue de Bâle, Saint-Louis)
 * Autobahn A3 (A35 autoroute, Saint-Louis), crossing Mulhouse, Colmar and Strasbourg.
 * EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg – pedestrian walkway between the French and Swiss sections on Level 3 (departures) of airport.
 * Burgfelderstrasse (Rue du 1er Mars, Saint Louis)
 * Railway crossing
 * Basel SBB railway station

Germany-Switzerland (clockwise, from north to south)
 * Road crossings (with German road name continuation)
 * Hiltalingerstrasse (Zollstraße, Weil am Rhein). Tram 8 goes along this road to Weil am Rhein. The extension opened in 2014; it used to end before the border.
 * Autobahn A2 (Autobahn A5, Weil am Rhein)
 * Freiburgerstrasse (Baslerstraße, Weil am Rhein)
 * Weilstrasse, Riehen (Haupstraße, Weil am Rhein)
 * Lörracherstrasse, Riehen (Baslerstraße, Stetten, Lörrach)
 * Inzlingerstrasse, Riehen (Riehenstraße, Inzlingen)
 * Grenzacherstrasse (Hörnle, Grenzach-Wyhlen)
 * Railway crossing
 * Between Basel SBB and Basel Badischer Bahnhof – Basel Badischer Bahnhof, and all other railway property and stations on the right bank of the Rhine belong to DB and are classed as German customs territory. Immigration and customs checks are conducted at the platform exit tunnel for passengers leaving trains here.

Additionally there are many footpaths and cycle tracks crossing the border between Basel and Germany.

Health
As the biggest town in the Northwest of Switzerland numerous public and private health centres are located in Basel. Among others the Universitätsspital Basel and the Universitätskinderspital Basel. Private health centres include the Bethesda Spital and the Merian Iselin Klinik. Additionally the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute is located in Basel too.

Energy
Basel is at the forefront of a national vision to more than halve energy use in Switzerland by 2050. To research, develop and commercialise the technologies and techniques required for the country to become a 2000 Watt society, a number of projects have been set up since 2001 in the Basel metropolitan area. These include demonstration buildings constructed to Minergie or Passivhaus standards, electricity generation from renewable energy sources, and vehicles using natural gas, hydrogen and biogas. A building construction law was passed in 2002 also which stated that all new flat roofs must be greened leading to Basel becoming the world's leading green roof city. This was driven by an energy saving programme.

A hot dry rock geothermal energy project was cancelled in 2009 since it caused induced seismicity in Basel.

Economy
The city of Basel, located in the north west of Switzerland, is one of the most dynamic economic regions of Switzerland.

, Basel had an unemployment rate of 3.7%. , 19.3% of the working population was employed in the secondary sector and 80.6% was employed in the tertiary sector. There were 82,449 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which women made up 46.2% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 130,988. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 13, of which 10 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 33,171 of which 24,848 or (74.9%) were in manufacturing, 10 were in mining and 7,313 (22.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 97,804. In the tertiary sector; 12,880 or 13.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 11,959 or 12.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6,120 or 6.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4,186 or 4.3% were in the information industry, 10,752 or 11.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 13,695 or 14.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 6,983 or 7.1% were in education and 16,060 or 16.4% were in health care.

, there were 121,842 workers who commuted into the municipality and 19,263 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 6.3 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 23.9% of the workforce coming into Basel are coming from outside Switzerland, while 1.0% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 49.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 18.7% used a private car.

The Roche Tower, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is 41 floors and 178 m high, upon its opening in 2015 it has become the tallest building in Switzerland. Basel has also Switzerland's third tallest building (Basler Messeturm, 105 m) and Switzerland's tallest tower (St. Chrischona TV tower, 250 m).

Chemical industry
The Swiss chemical industry operates largely from Basel, and Basel also has a large pharmaceutical industry. Novartis, Syngenta, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Clariant, Hoffmann-La Roche, Basilea Pharmaceutica, and Actelion are headquartered there. Pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals have become the modern focus of the city's industrial production.

In addition, Basel is a major European hub for Biotech and Biopharmaceuticals. There are plenty of small and mid-sized start-ups. The vibrant VC scene also supports this.

Banking
Banking is important to Basel:
 * UBS AG maintains central offices in Basel.
 * The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is located within the city and is the central banker's bank.
 * According to the BIS, "The choice of Switzerland for the seat of the BIS was a compromise by those countries that established the BIS: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. When consensus could not be reached on locating the Bank in London, Brussels or Amsterdam, the choice fell on Switzerland. An independent, neutral country, Switzerland offered the BIS less exposure to undue influence from any of the major powers. Within Switzerland, Basel was chosen largely because of its location, with excellent railway connections in all directions, especially important at a time when most international travel was by train."
 * Created in May 1930, the BIS is owned by its member central banks. No agent of the Swiss public authorities may enter the premises without the express consent of the bank. The bank exercises supervision and police power over its premises. The BIS enjoys immunity from criminal and administrative jurisdiction.
 * The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision usually meets at the BIS premises in Basel. It produces recommendations such as the Basel Accords (Basel I, Basel II and Basel III), based on consensus among its members which are central banks and banking supervisors.

 * Basel also hosts the headquarters of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation, which is active in the field of sustainable infrastructure (financing).

Air
Swiss International Air Lines, the national airline of Switzerland, is headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near Basel. Prior to the formation of Swiss International Air Lines, the regional airline Crossair was headquartered near Basel.

Media
Basler Zeitung ("BaZ") and bz Basel are the local newspapers. The local TV station is called Telebasel. The German-speaking Swiss Radio and Television SRF company, part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR, holds offices in Basel as well. The academic publishers Birkhäuser, Karger and MDPI are based in Basel.

Trade fairs
Important trade shows include Art Basel, the world's most important fair for modern and contemporary art, Baselworld (watches and jewelry), Swissbau (construction and real estate) and Igeho (hotels, catering, take-away, care). The Swiss Sample Fair ("Schweizer Mustermesse") was the largest and oldest consumer fair in Switzerland. It was held from 2007 to 2019 and took place in Kleinbasel on the right bank of the Rhine.

Education
Besides Humanism the city of Basel has also been well known for its achievements in the field of mathematics. Among others, the mathematician Leonhard Euler and the Bernoulli family have done research and been teaching at the local institutions for centuries. In 1910 the Swiss Mathematical Society was founded in the city and in the mid-twentieth century the Russian mathematician Alexander Ostrowski taught at the local university. In 2000 about 57,864 or (34.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 27,603 or (16.6%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 27,603 who completed tertiary schooling, 44.4% were Swiss men, 31.1% were Swiss women, 13.9% were non-Swiss men and 10.6% were non-Swiss women.

In 2010 11,912 students attended the University of Basel (55% female). 25% were foreign nationals, 16% were from canton of Basel-Stadt. In 2006, 6162 students studied at one of the nine academies of the FHNW (51% female).

, there were 5,820 students in Basel who came from another municipality, while 1,116 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Universities
Basel hosts Switzerland's oldest university, the University of Basel, dating from 1460. Erasmus, Paracelsus, Daniel Bernoulli, Leonhard Euler, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Tadeusz Reichstein, Karl Jaspers, Carl Gustav Jung, and Karl Barth worked there. The University of Basel is currently counted among the 90 best educational institutions worldwide.

In 2007, the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich) established the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) in Basel. The creation of the D-BSSE was driven by a Swiss-wide research initiative SystemsX, and was jointly supported by funding from the ETH Zürich, the Swiss Government, the Swiss University Conference (SUC) and private industry.

Basel also hosts several academies of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz|Fachhochschule NW (FHNW): the FHNW Academy of Art and Design, FHNW Academy of Music, and the FHNW School of Business.

Basel is renowned for various scientific societies, such as the Entomological Society of Basel (Entomologische Gesellschaft Basel, EGB), which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005.

Volksschule
In 2005 16,939 pupils and students attended the Volksschule (the obligatory school time, including Kindergarten (127), primary schools (Primarschule, 25), and lower secondary schools (Sekundarschule, 10), of which 94% visited public schools and 39.5% were foreign nationals. In 2010 already 51.1% of all pupils spoke another language than German as their first language. In 2009 3.1% of the pupils visited special classes for pupils with particular needs. The average amount of study in primary school in Basel is 816 teaching hours per year.

Upper secondary school
In 2010 65% of the youth finished their upper secondary education with a vocational training and education, 18% finished their upper secondary education with a Federal Matura at one of the five gymnasiums, 5% completed a Fachmaturität at the FMS, 5% completed a Berufsmaturität synchronously to their vocational training, and 7% other kind of upper secondary maturity. 14.1% of all students at public gymnasiums were foreign nationals. The Maturity quota in 2010 was on a record high at 28.8% (32.8 female, 24.9% male).

Basel has five public gymnasiums (', ', ', ', ), each with its own profiles (different focus on major subjects, such as visual design, biology and chemistry, Italian, Spanish, or Latin languages, music, physics and applied mathematics, philosophy/education/psychology, and economics and law) that entitles students with a successful Matura graduation to attend universities. And one Fachmaturitätsschule, the FMS, with six different major subjects (health/natural sciences, education, social work, design/art, music/theatre/dance, and communication/media) that entitles students with a successful Fachmatura graduation to attend Fachhochschulen. Four different höhere Fachschulen (higher vocational schools such as Bildungszentrum Gesundheit Basel-Stadt (health), Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel (trade), Berufsfachschule Basel, Schule für Gestaltung Basel (design)) allows vocational students to improve their knowledge and know-how.

International schools
As a city with a percentage of foreigners of more than thirty-five per cent and as one of the most important centres in the chemical and pharmaceutical field in the world, Basel counts several international schools including: Academia International School, École Française de Bâle, Freies Gymnasium Basel (private), Gymnasium am Münsterplatz (public), Schweizerisch-italienische Primarschule Sandro Pertini, International School Basel, BLIS Baselland International School. and SIS Swiss International School.

Libraries
Basel is home to at least 65 libraries. Some of the largest include; the Universitätsbibliothek Basel (main university library), the special libraries of the University of Basel, the Allgemein Bibliotheken der Gesellschaft für Gutes und Gemeinnütziges (GGG) Basel, the Library of the Pädagogische Hochschule, the Library of the Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit and the Library of the Hochschule für Wirtschaft. There was a combined total of 8,443,643 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 1,722,802 items were loaned out.

Main sights
The red sandstone Münster, one of the foremost late-Romanesque/early Gothic buildings in the Upper Rhine, was badly damaged in the great earthquake of 1356, rebuilt in the 14th and 15th century, extensively reconstructed in the mid-19th century and further restored in the late 20th century. A memorial to Erasmus lies inside the Münster. The City Hall from the 16th century is located on the Market Square and is decorated with fine murals on the outer walls and on the walls of the inner court.

Basel is also host to an array of buildings by internationally renowned architects. These include the Beyeler Foundation by Renzo Piano, or the Vitra complex in nearby Weil am Rhein, composed of buildings by architects such as Zaha Hadid (fire station), Frank Gehry (Design Museum), Álvaro Siza Vieira (factory building), and Tadao Ando (conference centre). Basel also features buildings by Mario Botta (Jean Tinguely Museum and Bank of International settlements) and Herzog & de Meuron (whose architectural practice is in Basel, and who are best known as the architects of Tate Modern in London and the Bird's Nest in Beijing, the Olympia stadium, which was designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics). The city received the Wakker Prize in 1996.

Heritage sites
Basel features a great number of heritage sites of national significance.

These include the entire Old Town of Basel as well as the following buildings and collections:

 * Churches and monasteries :Old Catholic Prediger Kirche (church), Bischofshof with Collegiate church at Rittergasse 1, Domhof at Münsterplatz 10–12, former Carthusian House of St Margarethental, Catholic Church of St Antonius, Lohnhof (former Augustinians Collegiate Church), Mission 21, Archive of the Evangelisches Missionswerk Basel, Münster of Basel (cathedral), Reformed Elisabethenkirche (church), Reformed Johanneskirche (church), Reformed Leonhardskirche (church, former Augustinians Abbey), Reformed Martinskirche (church), Reformed Pauluskirche (church), Reformed Peterskirche (church), Reformed St. Albankirche (church) with cloister and cemetery, Reformed Theodorskirche (church), Synagoge at Eulerstrasse 2

Badischer Bahnhof (German Baden's railway station) with fountain, Bank for International Settlements, Blaues Haus (Reichensteinerhof) at Rheinsprung 16, Bruderholzschule (school house) at Fritz-Hauser-Strasse 20, Brunschwiler Haus at Hebelstrasse 15, Bahnhof Basel SBB (Swiss railway station), Bürgerspital (hospital), Café Spitz (Merianflügel), Coop Schweiz company's central archive, Depot of the Archäologischen Bodenforschung des Kanton Basel-Stadt, former Gallizian Paper Mill and Swiss Museum of Paper, former Klingental-Kaserne (casern) with Klingentaler Kirche (church), Fasnachtsbrunnen (fountain), Feuerschützenhaus (guild house of the riflemen) at Schützenmattstrasse 56, Fischmarktbrunnen (fountain), Geltenzunft at Marktplatz 13, Gymnasium am Kohlenberg (St Leonhard) (school), Hauptpost (main post office), Haus zum Raben at Aeschenvorstadt 15, Hohenfirstenhof at Rittergasse 19, Holsteinerhof at Hebelstrasse 30, Markgräflerhof a former palace of the margraves of Baden-Durlach, Mittlere Rhein Brücke (Central Rhine Bridge), Stadtcasino (music hall) at Steinenberg 14, Ramsteinerhof at Rittergasse 7 and 9, Rathaus (town hall), Rundhof building of the Schweizerischen Mustermesse, Safranzunft at Gerbergasse 11, Sandgrube at Riehenstrasse 154, Schlösschen (Manor house) Gundeldingen, Schönes Haus and Schöner Hof at Nadelberg 6, Wasgenring school house, Seidenhof with painting of Rudolf von Habsburg, Spalenhof at Spalenberg 12, Spiesshof at Heuberg 7, city walls, Townhouse (former post office) at Stadthausgasse 13 / Totengässlein 6, Weisses Haus at Martinsgasse 3, Wildt'sches Haus at Petersplatz 13, Haus zum Neuen Singer at Speiserstrasse 98, Wolfgottesacker at Münchensteinerstrasse 99, Zerkindenhof at Nadelberg 10.
 * Secular buildings:

 * Archaeological sites: The Celtic Settlement at Gasfabrik, Münsterhügel and Altstadt (historical city, late La Tène and medieval settlement).

 * Museums, archives and collections: Basel calls itself the Cultural Capital of Switzerland.

Among others, there is the Anatomical Museum of the University Basel, Berri-Villen and Museum of Ancient Art Basel and Ludwig Collection, Former Franciscan Barefoot Order Church and Basel Historical Museum, Company Archive of Novartis, Haus zum Kirschgarten which is part of the Basel Historical Museum, Historic Archive Roche and Industrial Complex Hoffmann-La Roche, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Caricature & Cartoon Museum Basel, Karl Barth-Archive, Kleines Klingental (Lower Klingen Valley) with Museum Klingental, Art Museum of Basel, hosting the world's oldest art collection accessible to the public, Natural History Museum of Basel and the Museum of Cultures Basel, Museum of Modern Art Basel with the E. Hoffmann collection, Museum Jean Tinguely Basel, Music Museum, Pharmacy Historical Museum of the University of Basel, Poster Collection of the School for Design (Schule für Gestaltung), Swiss Business Archives, Sculpture Hall, Sports Museum of Switzerland, Archives of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, UBS AG Corporate Archives, University Library with manuscripts and music collection, Zoological Garden (Zoologischer Garten).

Theatre and music
Basel is the home of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, founded in 1933, a worldwide centre for research on and performance of music from the Medieval through the Baroque eras. Theater Basel, chosen in 1999 as the best stage for German-language performances and in 2009 and 2010 as "Opera house of the year" by German opera magazine Opernwelt, presents a busy schedule of plays in addition to being home to the city's opera and ballet companies. Basel is home to the largest orchestra in Switzerland, the Sinfonieorchester Basel. It is also the home of the Basel Sinfonietta and the Kammerorchester Basel, which recorded the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven for the Sony label, led by its music director Giovanni Antonini. The Schola Cantorum and the Basler Kammerorchester were both founded by the conductor Paul Sacher, who went on to commission works by many leading composers. The Paul Sacher Foundation, opened in 1986, houses a major collection of manuscripts, including the entire Igor Stravinsky archive. The baroque orchestras La Cetra and Capriccio Basel are also based in Basel.

In May 2004, the fifth European Festival of Youth Choirs (Europäisches Jugendchorfestival, or EJCF) opened; this Basel tradition started in 1992. Host of the festival is the local Basel Boys Choir.

In 1997, Basel contended to become the "European Capital of Culture", though the honor went to Thessaloniki.

Museums
The Basel museums cover a broad and diverse spectrum of collections with a marked concentration in the fine arts. They house numerous holdings of international significance. The over three dozen institutions yield an extraordinarily high density of museums compared to other cities of similar size and draw over one million visitors annually.

Constituting an essential component of Basel culture and cultural policy, the museums are the result of closely interwoven private and public collecting activities and promotion of arts and culture going back to the 16th century. The public museum collection was first created back in 1661 and represents the oldest public collection in continuous existence in Europa. Since the late 1980s, various private collections have been made accessible to the public in new purpose-built structures that have been recognized as acclaimed examples of avant-garde museum architecture.

 * Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig Ancient cultures of the Mediterranean museum
 * Augusta Raurica Roman open-air museum
 * Basel Paper Mill (Basler Papiermühle)
 * Beyeler Foundation (Foundation Beyeler) Beyeler Museum (Fondation Beyeler)
 * Botanical Garden Basel One of the oldest botanical gardens in the world
 * Caricature & Cartoon Museum Basel (Karikatur & Cartoon Museum Basel)
 * Dollhouse Museum (Puppenhausmuseum) a museum housing the largest teddy bear collection in Europe.
 * Foundation Fernet Branca (Fondation Fernet Branca) in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin near Basel. Modern art collection.
 * Historical Museum Basel (Historisches Museum Basel)
 * Kunsthalle Basel Modern and contemporary art museum
 * Kunstmuseum Basel Upper Rhenish and Flemish paintings, drawings from 1400 to 1600 and 19th- to 21st-century art
 * Monteverdi Automuseum
 * Museum of Cultures Basel (Museum der Kulturen Basel) Large collections on European and non-European cultural life
 * Museum of Contemporary Art Art from the 1960s up to the present
 * Music Museum (Musikmuseum) of the Basel Historic Museum
 * Natural History Museum of Basel (Naturhistorisches Museum Basel)
 * Pharmazie-Historisches Museum der Universität Basel
 * Schaulager Modern and contemporary art museum
 * Swiss Architecture Museum (Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum)
 * Tinguely Museum Life and work of the major Swiss iron sculptor Jean Tinguely
 * Jewish Museum of Switzerland

Events
The city of Basel is a centre for numerous fairs and events all year round. One of the most important fairs for contemporary art worldwide is the Art Basel which was founded in 1970 by Ernst Beyeler and takes place in June each year. Baselworld, the watch and jewellery show (Uhren- und Schmuckmesse) one of the biggest fairs of its kind in Europe is held every year as well, and attracts a great number of tourists and dealers to the city. Live marketing company and fair organizer MCH Group has its head office in Basel.

The carnival of the city of Basel (Basler Fasnacht) is a major cultural event in the year. The carnival is the biggest in Switzerland and attracts large crowds every year, despite the fact that it starts at exactly four o'clock in the morning (Morgestraich) on a winter Monday. The Fasnacht asserts Basel's Protestant history by commencing the revelry five days after Ash Wednesday and continuing exactly 72 hours. Almost all study and work in the old city cease. Dozens of fife and drum clubs parade in medieval guild tradition with fantastical masks and illuminated lanterns.

Basel Tattoo, founded in 2006 by the local Top Secret Drum Corps, has grown to be the world's second largest military tattoo in terms of performers and budget after the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The Basel Tattoo annual parade, with an estimated 125,000 visitors, is considered the largest event in Basel. The event is now sponsored by the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), making it the official military tattoo of Switzerland.

Cuisine
There are a number of culinary specialties originating in Basel, including Basler Läckerli cookies and Mässmogge candies. Being located in the meeting place between Switzerland, France and Germany the culinary landscape as a whole is very varied and diverse, making it a city with a great number of restaurants of all sorts.

Zoo
Zoo Basel is, with over 1.7 million visitors per year, the most visited tourist attraction in Basel and the second most visited tourist attraction in Switzerland.

Established in 1874, Zoo Basel is the oldest zoo in Switzerland and, by number of animals, the largest. Through its history, Zoo Basel has had several breeding successes, such as the first worldwide Indian rhinoceros birth and Greater flamingo hatch in a zoo. These and other achievements led Forbes Travel to rank Zoo Basel as one of the fifteen best zoos in the world in 2008.

Despite its international fame, Basel's population remains attached to Zoo Basel, which is entirely surrounded by the city of Basel. Evidence of this is the millions of donations money each year, as well as Zoo Basel's unofficial name: locals lovingly call "their" zoo "Zolli" by which is it known throughout Basel and most of Switzerland.

Sport
Basel has a reputation in Switzerland as a successful sporting city. The football club FC Basel continues to be successful and in recognition of this the city was one of the Swiss venues for the 2008 European Championships, along with Geneva, Zürich and Bern. The championships were jointly hosted by Switzerland and Austria. BSC Old Boys and Concordia Basel are the other football teams in Basel.

Among the most popular sports in Switzerland is ice hockey. Basel is home to EHC Basel, who play in the MySports League, the third tier of the Swiss ice hockey league system. They play their home games in the 6,700-seater St. Jakob Arena. The team previously played in the National League and the Swiss League, but had to file for bankruptcy after the 2013–14 Swiss League season.

Amongst its major sports venues, Basel features a large football stadium that has been awarded four stars by UEFA, a modern ice hockey arena, and a sports hall.

A large indoor tennis event takes place in Basel every October. Some of the best ATP-professionals play every year at the Swiss Indoors, previously including Switzerland's biggest sporting hero Roger Federer, a Basel native who describes the city as "one of the most beautiful cities in the world".

The annual Basel Rhine Swim draws several thousand visitors to the city to swim in or float on the Rhine.

While football and ice hockey are by far the most popular sports, basketball has a very small but faithful fan base. The top division, called the SBL, is a semi-professional league and has one team from the Basel region, the "Birstal Starwings".

Two players from Switzerland are currently active in the NBA, Thabo Sefolosha and Clint Capela. As in most European countries, but unlike the U.S., Switzerland has a club-based rather than a school-based competition system. The Starwings Basel are the only first division basketball team in German-speaking Switzerland.

The headquarters of the IHF (International Handball Federation) is located in Basel.

Basel Dragons AFC have been playing Australian Football in the AFL Switzerland league since 2019.

In July 2022, the women's water polo players of the WSV Basel secured their 11th national championship title.

Basel GAA, a Gaelic games club, is also located in Basel.

Notable people
Notable people who were born or grew up in Basel:
 * Gaspard Bauhin (1560–1624), botanist and anatomist
 * Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650), engraver
 * Johannes Buxtorf II (1599–1664), Protestant Christian Hebraist
 * Jacob Bernoulli (1654–1705), mathematician
 * Johann Bernoulli (1667–1748), mathematician
 * Johann Jakob Wettstein (1693–1754), theologian and New Testament critic
 * Maximilian Ulysses Browne (1705–1757), Austrian field marshal
 * Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), mathematician, physicist and astronomer
 * Johann Peter Hebel (1760–1826), German short story writer, poet and Lutheran theologian
 * Johann Jakob Herzog (1805–1882), Swiss-German Protestant theologian
 * Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897), historian of art and culture
 * Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), symbolist painter
 * Friedrich Miescher (1844–1895), physician and biologist, the first scientist to isolate nucleic acid
 * Karl Barth (1886–1968), Swiss Reformed theologian, best known for his involvement with the Confessing Church and Christian resistance to Hitler
 * Rudy Burckhardt (1914–1999), American filmmaker and photographer
 * Christa de Carouge (1936–2018), Swiss fashion designer
 * Christina Surer (born 1974), racing driver
 * Martina Gmür (born 1979), Swiss visual artist
 * Peter Zumthor (born 1943), architect
 * Margrith von Felten (born 1944), politician and lawyer
 * Heidi Köpfer (born 1954), choreographer, dancer and video artist
 * Antoine Konrad (born 1975), DJ and record producer, known as DJ Antoine
 * Roger Federer (born 1981), professional tennis player
 * Granit Xhaka (born 1992), professional footballer with 100 caps with Switzerland
 * Fina Girard (born 2001), politician and youth climate activist

title: Basel


text:
Talk:Bloody Mary

Untitled section
One of the most persistent and well-known urban legends in the modern era is that of Bloody Mary. It has been passed down through the generations and evolved considerably over time. The legend's most popular iteration features a paranormal ritual that is carried out in front of a mirror. According to legend, the ceremony calls forth the specter of Mary, a woman who perished tragically or violently.

The Bloody Mary legend's beginnings are not exactly known. The mythology, according to some historians, has its origins in English history and could be related to the reign of Queen Mary I, sometimes known as "Bloody Mary" because of her persecution of Protestants. One argument contends that the mythology changed over time and, in the 20th century, became to be connected to the paranormal. Another explanation for the legend might be because it serves as a coping mechanism for people who are afraid of death and the unknown. The Bloody Mary mythology can offer a method to face and comprehend the worries that many people have with ghosts and other supernatural beings.

Standing in front of a mirror and saying "Bloody Mary" three times is the fundamental ritual connected to the Bloody Mary mythology. Some rituals call for the performer to circle three times or to ignite candles and dim the lights. It is believed that by carrying out the ceremony, the individual will conjure Mary's ghost, who will then appear in the mirror and possibly try to hurt or frighten them.

The Bloody Mary mythology has many different versions, and they frequently change by place and culture. According to certain versions of the story, Mary was either a murderer or a witch who was executed for her misdeeds. According to other accounts, she was a young girl who tragically died and now seeks retribution from those who mistreated her.

The Bloody Mary mythology has been the focus of numerous horror films and books throughout the years, and it is still a hotly contested issue. While some individuals think the ceremony genuinely works and can conjure Mary's spirit, others think it's just a harmless fun or a ploy to spook friends and relatives.

The Bloody Mary mythology is still a mystery to this day and a source of intrigue for many. It has captivated the interest of people all around the world and is still a hot issue for discussion and exploration, whether it is founded on historical fact or is completely a creation of the imagination. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Theamanbasnet (talk • contribs) 05:03, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

Disambiguation
I went and turned this into a disambig page. The Swedish page, I was able to make enough sense out of to send it to the drink page. A bigger problem is the ja: and zh: links; I can't read them. If they should go to one or the other pages, please send them where they belong. -- Smerdis of Tlön 01:40, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

bloody mary is one of henry wives —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.141.108.14 (talk) 17:32, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Descriptions
Here is why the cleaned-up versions of these descriptions (listed first, followed by the older versions) are perfectly adequate for distinguishing among the listed topics, while avoiding unnecessary clutter:

 * Bloody Mary (folklore), a ghost said to appear when summoned
 * Bloody Mary (folklore), a ghost said in folklore to appear in mirrors when summoned

The top version excludes the redundant second reference to folklore (instead of using the word twice four words apart) and the unnecessary description "in mirrors", as if there were a second ghost listed that only appeared in paddling pools when summoned. There is no other topic listed that could be confused for this topic.

 * Bloody Mary (South Pacific)
 * Bloody Mary (South Pacific), a souvenir trader and matchmaker, a character (and song) from the musical South Pacific

It is extremely likely that someone looking for this topic will know that they're looking for something related to the musical South Pacific. It is very unlikely that the user would be looking for a "souvenir trader and matchmaker" but have no idea where the character appears. And obviously, it is completely redundant to specify "from the musical South Pacific" when South Pacific is already in the name of the article (although the link is improperly formatted in the older version).

 * Bloody Mary (DC Comics), a fictional extraterrestrial vampire
 * Bloody Mary (DC Comics), a supervillain in the DC Comics universe

Again, five of the seven words in the lower description are completely redundant to the disambiguative description in the article title. Besides repeating the article title, all that the lower description says is that the character is a supervillain, which is poorly distinguished from the description for Bloody Mary (Marvel Comics), "a fictional telekinetic supervillain." Describing the type of character is more descriptive and more likely to be helpful.

 * Bloody Mary (Helix), a comic book
 * Bloody Mary (Helix), a science fiction comic book written by Garth Ennis

There is only one comic book listed on this page. A user would presumably know they are looking for a comic book, not looking for "some kind of science fiction thing" or "some kind of thing written by Garth Ennis." Therefore, "a comic book" should be adequately distinguishing description. Propaniac (talk) 15:37, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Bloody Mary (Lady Gaga song) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 20:48, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Bloody Mary


text:
Black Russian

The Black Russian is a cocktail of vodka and coffee liqueur. It contains 50 ml vodka and 20 ml coffee liqueur, per IBA specified ingredients.

The drink is made by pouring the vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes or cracked ice in an old-fashioned glass and stirring. The Black Russian is often garnished with a lemon slice and a Luxardo maraschino cherry on a stick.

History
The Black Russian cocktail first appeared in 1949 and is ascribed to Gustave Tops, a Belgian barman, who created it at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels in honor of Perle Mesta, then United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. The cocktail owes its name to the use of vodka, a typical Russian spirit, and the blackness of the coffee liqueur.

Variations

 * Dirty Black Russian, tall Black Russian, Australian Black Russian or Colorado bulldog: served in a highball glass and topped up with cola.
 * Black magic: served with a dash of lemon juice and a lemon twist to garnish.
 * Irish Russian or smooth Black Russian: served with a head of Guinness.
 * Brown Russian: served in a highball glass and topped with ginger ale.
 * Belarusian or white Russian: served with milk or cream.
 * Mudslide: served with Irish cream, either fresh cream or ice cream, with or without chocolate sauce rim.
 * Mind eraser: topped up with sparkling water.
 * Paralyzer: Made with cola and milk in addition to vodka and coffee liqueur.

title: Black Russian


text:
BRP

BRP can mean:
 * Basic Role-Playing game system
 * Biometric Residence permit, a type of card in lieu of visa which allows a non-British citizen to work & reside in the UK.
 * Blue Ridge Parkway
 * Bombardier Recreational Products, Canadian company
 * Bombo Radyo Philippines, Philippine radio network
 * Brief reactive psychosis
 * British Racing Partnership, former British motor racing team
 * Bathroom privileges
 * Bronx River Parkway in New York
 * Brotherhood of Russian Truth (Bratstvo Russkoy Pravdy), former Russian emigrant organization
 * Barko/Bapor ng Republika ng Pilipinas (ship/steamship of the Republic of the Philippines), Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, and other government-owned ship name prefix
 * "B.R.P.", song by Victor Jara on album El derecho de vivir en paz
 * Brioche-purl stitch, in brioche knitting
 * Birpara, a town in West Bengal, India

title: BRP


text:
Bunnies & Burrows

Bunnies & Burrows (B&B) is a role-playing game (RPG) inspired by the 1972 novel Watership Down. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, the game centered on intelligent rabbits. It introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being the first game to encourage players to have non-humanoid roles, and the first to have detailed martial arts and skill systems. Fantasy Games Unlimited published a similar second edition in 1982. Frog God Games published a revised third edition in 2019 from the original authors. The game was also modified and published by Steve Jackson Games as an official GURPS supplement in 1992.

As rabbits, player characters are faced with dangers mirroring those in the real world. The only true "monsters" in the game are humans, but there are many predators and natural hazards. The characters' position in the food chain promotes an emphasis on role-playing and problem solving over combat.

History
Originally published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, only two years after the first role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was published; this edition is now long out of print. The game was inspired by Richard Adams' fantasy novel Watership Down, and the players were given the opportunity to take on the role of rabbits. As such, the game emphasized role-playing over combat for, according to Steffan O'Sullivan, "You're playing a rabbit, after all – how much combat do you want to do?" David M. Ewalt, in his book Of Dice and Men, commented that Bunnies & Burrows "pushed setting even farther" than other early RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and En Garde!, as the "player characters were intelligent rabbits and had to compete for food, avoid predators, and deal with internal warren politics".

It was the first role-playing game to allow for animal characters, and the first to have rules for martial arts.

Building on this first edition, in 1979, B. Dennis Sustare wrote "Different Worlds Present the World of Druid's Valley: A Bunnies & Burrows Campaign" in Different Worlds, a magazine published by Chaosium. It detailed how to combine the world of Bunnies & Burrows with other fantasy worlds. This was followed by the mini-adventure "The Jackrabbits' Lair", written by Daniel J. Maxfield, in Pegasus, a magazine published by Judges Guild.

A second edition of Bunnies & Burrows was printed in 1982 by Fantasy Games Unlimited, although the continuing popularity of the first edition is evidenced by how it was still being actively played in 2008.

During a rise of "retro" games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Steve Jackson Games entered negotiations with Dennis Sustare and Scott Robinson, the current owners of the Bunnies & Burrows copyright, to publish an official GURPS supplement. In 1988, O'Sullivan wrote an unofficial conversion of Bunnies & Burrows to GURPS while the negotiations continued. He indicated that he hoped to one day work on the official supplement. GURPS Bunnies & Burrows was published in 1992.

The setting also had an unofficial conversion in 2004 to be used in Risus: The Anything RPG by Boyd Mayberry, under their "Rules for Free Fan-Supplements and Articles".

In 2019, Frog God Games released a 3rd edition of the game after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Gameplay
"The original game was very innovative for its time (less than two years after the first published RPG). Not only could you play non-humanoids for the first time, but it was the first role-playing game to have detailed martial arts rules, the first attempt at a skill system, and the first RPG to appeal as widely to women as to men."

Bunnies & Burrows was the first role-playing game to allow for non-humanoid play. In addition, it was also the first role-playing game to have detailed martial arts rules (renamed "Bun Fu" in GURPS Bunnies & Burrows) and the first attempt at a skill system. For its time, the game was considered by some "light years" ahead of the Original Dungeons & Dragons.

Players of Bunnies & Burrows take the role of rabbits as their player characters. Interaction with many different animal species is part of normal gameplay. Humans, whose thought processes and motivations are completely alien, are the only monster to be encountered.

Bunnies & Burrows has the advantage of offering players an intuitive grasp of relative dangers and appropriate actions not possible in game worlds that are substantially fictional. For example, a player is told their character is confronted with a fox. There is an immediate intuition on the amount of peril a rabbit is facing. Since player characters are substantially weaker than many of the dangers they face, the game is one of the first to encourage problem solving and outwitting obstacles, rather than out-fighting them.

The mechanics of the role-playing game system were created specifically for Bunnies & Burrows, common at the time of its original publishing. It features eight abilities and eight classes. The task resolution system is based on rolls of percentile dice. Although newer systems have updated game mechanics significantly, the ideas presented in Bunnies & Burrows created the framework for modern role-playing games.

Reception
Steve Jackson reviewed Bunnies & Burrows in The Space Gamer No. 10. He concluded that "B & B is probably worth the retail price [...] at least to a FRP fan. The writing style is intelligent, lucid, and occasionally witty; the rules are workable [...] the art, as I think I pointed out, is so bad it's great; and the whole idea is appealing."

One commentator asserted that the game had "incredible role-playing potential", but the concept of role-playing rabbits can be viewed as bizarre, and as such they believed that most people thought it was stupid when it was first released.

James Davis Nicoll in 2020 for Black Gate said "In most games, the PCs are functionally apex predators. Not so in B. Dennis Sustare and Scott Robinson's Watership Down-inspired Bunnies and Burrows, in which you play a rabbit, a tasty, tasty rabbit. Filled with legitimately innovative game mechanics, it provided a combat system the rabbits were very ill-advised to use, as well as a skill system hampered only by the fact the rabbits were, well, as smart as rabbits. Human NPCs fill the Cosmic Horror niche: enigmatic, powerful, and deadly."

In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "B&B is the first game to push beyond the fantasy battle boundaries established by Dungeons & Dragons. This step [helped] the hobby arrive at the sort of indie games that focus on collaborative storytelling and lightweight, intuitive rules."

Other reviews

 * Fantastic Science Fiction v27 n10
 * The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games

Books

 * Bunnies & Burrows (1976), Fantasy Games Unlimited
 * Bunnies & Burrows (Second edition) (1982), Fantasy Games Unlimited
 * Bunnies & Burrows (Third edition) (2019), Frog God Games

Articles

 * Different Worlds Present the World of Druid's Valley: A Bunnies & Burrows Campaign (B. Dennis Sustare, 1979). Different Worlds, Chaosium
 * The Jackrabbits' Lair (Daniel J. Maxfield). Pegasus, Judges Guild

title: Bunnies & Burrows


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Bundaberg Rum

Bundaberg Rum, colloquially known as Bundy, is a dark rum owned by Diageo. It is produced in Bundaberg East, Queensland, Australia, by the Bundaberg Distilling Company. In 2010, the Bundaberg Distilling Company was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.

History

Bundaberg Rum originated because the local sugar mills had a problem with what to do with the waste molasses after the sugar was extracted. Molasses was heavy and difficult to transport, and the costs of converting it to stock feed were rarely worth the effort. Sugar men first began to think of the profits that could be made from distilling. The key meeting was held at the Royal Hotel on 1 August 1885. W. M. C. Hickson served as the chairman, and other notables in attendance included all the big sugar mill owners of that time: W. G. Farquhar, F. L. Nott, T. Austin, J. Gale, S. McDougall, T. Penny, S. H. Bravo and A. H. Young. All became the first directors of the company, which started with a capital of £5,000.

The Bundaberg Distilling Company began its operations in 1888, and Bundaberg rum was first produced in 1889. Production ceased from 1907 to 1914, and from 1936 to 1939, after fires, the second of which caused rum from the factory to spill into the nearby Burnett River. Many fish were killed due to the liquor runoff into the river.

Christsen Pty Ltd operated their own Bundaberg Rum bottling plant in Bourbong Street, Bundaberg, at the rear of their large grocery and hardware business in the centre of town. The spirit was sold at UP and OP strength from their business. A spokesperson for the original family, Rod Patch, recalled that the shape of the current "Bundy Bottle" originated from bottles of Bushells Coffee and Chicory Essence. Bundaberg residents would sell them to his grandfather for one penny a bottle, after which they were washed and filled with the spirit. The shape remains the same but the capacity has been increased to the current 700ml. Patch's great-grandfather, Hans Truval Christsen, a Danish immigrant from Copenhagen, and his son Frederick Christsen, had a policy of employing staff of The Salvation Army faith in the rum bottling process, because they were less likely to be tempted to sample the spirit. The Christsen family supported settlement farming families through hard times, which was acknowledged with the naming of Christsen Park at Bargara Beach.

In 1961, the company introduced the polar bear as its unusual choice of mascot, to imply that the rum could ward off the coldest chill.

In 2000, the Bundaberg Rum company and the distillery were sold to British company Diageo. In 2014, a decision by Diageo to relocate the bottling operations of Bundaberg Rum to the western Sydney suburb of Huntingwood resulted in job losses in the city that bears the name of the drink.

The decision drew criticism from various levels of Queensland politics. The Premier, Campbell Newman, said it was a disappointing move, particularly for a region that had suffered devastating floods in recent years. Bundaberg mayor, Mal Forman, said, "I'm saddened by the announcement, but I had been assured the company had a commitment to the city ... I understood demand for bottled Bundaberg Rum had declined as more people bought pre-mixed cans, a trend I wanted no part of."

A Diageo spokeswoman later clarified the situation, saying some premium products, such as the Master Distillers Collection, would continue to be bottled in Bundaberg. "This was not a decision we have taken lightly, however it is a necessary one to ensure the longer term sustainability of the distillery. We remain absolutely committed to Bundaberg and the distillery and will continue to invest and focus on our core business of distilling, maturing and blending great quality rum in Bundaberg as we have done for the last 125 years."

Distillery
The Bundaberg Rum distillery is open to visitors for tours of the facility. There is also a museum which offers free samples of Bundaberg Rum products for visitors in a historic Queenslander house. The Big Bundy Bottle is also outside of the bond store. A new $8.5 million visitor centre opened to the public in August 2016 replacing the smaller historic house next door.

In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bundaberg Rum Distillery was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "location". The State Library of Queensland holds correspondence and financial records from the Bundaberg Distilling Co. Ltd. Records for years 1907 to 1946

Variant flavours

 * Bundaberg Rum UP 37%
 * Bundaberg Rum Original 100 Proof 50%
 * Bundaberg Rum Overproof 57.7%
 * Bundaberg Red 37%
 * Bundaberg Red 100 Proof 50%
 * Bundaberg Five 37%
 * Bundaberg Select Vat Aged 6 Years 37%
 * Bundaberg Mutiny Spiced Rum 37%
 * Master Distillers' Collection Small Batch 40%
 * Master Distillers' Collection Small Batch – Vintage Barrel 40%
 * Master Distillers Collection 280 40%
 * Master Distillers Collection Black Barrel – Distilled 2004 – Black Glass 40%
 * Master Distillers Collection Black Barrel – Distilled 2004 – Clear Glass 40%
 * Master Distillers Collection Black Barrel – Distilled 2005 – Clear Glass 40%
 * Master Distillers Collection Blenders Edition 2014 40%
 * Master Distillers Collection Blenders Edition 2015 40%
 * Bundaberg Tropics – Pineapple & Coconut 23.5%
 * Bundaberg Royal Liqueur Banana and Toffee 20%
 * Bundaberg Royal Liqueur Coffee and Chocolate 20%
 * Bundy Wings Heritage Label Original 37%

Sponsorship
Bundaberg Rum is a major sponsor of the Australian Wallabies rugby union team and also sponsors the Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series. Bundaberg is also a sponsor of the NSW Waratahs. Bundaberg Rum sponsored the rugby league ANZAC Test till 2009. Bundaberg Rum signed a 5-year deal with the NRL to be the official dark rum of the NRL. They are also the naming-rights sponsor of NRL Friday Night Football.

From 2009 until 2011, Bundaberg Rum sponsored V8 Supercar team Walkinshaw Racing.

Recognition
Bundaberg Rum has been distinguished with numerous awards. In 2011, Bundaberg Rum's Master Distillers' Collective rum was launched, with the first three releases, the 10 Year Old, Port Barrel and Golden Reserve, winning awards in the global stage.

Advertising
Bundaberg Rum has also been criticised for targeting its advertising towards young people and boys, through television commercials during NRL broadcasts, and other promotions. A series of advertisements featuring the Bundaberg Rum bear, a polar bear known as Bundy R. Bear, were produced by advertising agency Leo Burnett to align the product 'with a larrikin approach to Australian mateship'. The Bundaberg Rum bear first appeared in 1961. It was designed to soften rum's aggressive image and broaden its appeal from the traditional older male drinker to a more sociable audience. The advertisements have been cited as a favourite among Australia's youth.

title: Bundaberg Rum