Museum of Cultures Basel

For me, this museum offers more than surprises, but rather diversity. You can spend two or three hours here, and visiting on a rainy day is a great option.

This is an unusual and excellent museum in the centre of Basel, near the cathedral. Each floor has a different exhibition with an interesting theme. The English language leaflets which explain the exhibits are essential reading to get the most from the exhibitions. I visited several times over the course of one week and it took me several hours to look and read my way around each floor. Each exhibition is thoughtful, creative and illuminating. Who would have thought I’d fine a collection of anchors so fascinating? Excellent place, and the attached bistro is great too!

Visited the museum for the Día de los Muertos celebration, organized by the Asociacion de Mexicanos y amigos de Mexico en Basel (AMEX). The celebration was spectacular, with colorful decorations, beautiful altars, tours and informative cards highlighting different parts of the exhibition, and a good selection of traditional and affordable food. Unfortunately, I cannot give a five-start review due to poor organization and the rudeness of some museum staff. The main performances were planned in the museum´s courtyard despite the weather forecast predicting rain throughout the entire weekend. With the adverse weather conditions, the activities could have been relocated indoors so that the public could have enjoyed the presentations. During the Procession of the Catrinas, heavy rain led to disorganization, as attendees gathered both inside the museum shop and courtyard. The ones inside the museum shop were looking for shelter due to the heavy rain. Three museum employees, including two female staff members and one male staff member, attempted to manage the crowd. The female staff members were notably rude and impolite when pushing the visitors out of the museum shop and trying to make space in the courtyard. As a result, viewing the presentation was difficult due to its location at the lowest part of the courtyard and the ongoing rain. For future events, hope the organizers take the weather forecast into consideration when planning activities. It is crucial that museum staff are educated on the importance of making visitors feel welcomed and understand how their behavior impacts visitor´s perception of the museum service.

Not what I expected. The first impression, seen from the outside: impressive, special! After entering, slowly, slowly...disappointment. Very large building, few exhibits. An exhibition dedicated to Asian culture and one to African culture. And that's it. No explanations in English. In maximum one hour you have seen everything.

A wonderful museum about indigenous cultures from around the world. I was especially touched by the display of Indonesian and Oceanic cultures. I also want to mention that the staff of this museum are very friendly. There are lockers available. The collection is presented in a clear manner and the texts were well written.

A museum with different floors and in each different art historical well curated facts. The staff very helpful. For the wardrobe coin they give you one in a wooden material for free. Last floor people were relaxing and meditating quite interesting set up corner place with instructions.

Whilst there are some very cool items (in particular the façade of the ceremonial house of Papua New Guinea- the only object with English captions I saw in the whole museum)- I’m glad my friend and I went in for free in the last hour. There are NO English captions/explanations throughout and if I can read German correctly very few objects were before the 19th century. Besides the very cool ceremonial house, the building exterior is the best thing. I didn’t see how the arrangement on each floor made sense… but then again not a German speaker!

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.