Schlösschen Gundeldingen

En un regard

Le château en bref

The ‘Schlösschen Gundeldingen’ refers to what remains of a group of four related castles in the Gundeldingen district, south of Basel; parts of only two of them survive. The Vorderes Gundeldingen (Dittingerstrasse 20 / Gundeldingerstrasse 172), the manor house of a wealthy 16th-century merchant, has retained its main body, painted red in a tradition about 250 years old, and is listed on the register of protected monuments of Basel-Stadt. The Unteres Mittleres Gundeldingen (Gundeldingerstrasse 280), also known as the Thomas Platter house, dates from around 1400 and was originally surrounded by a pond; the writer and scholar Thomas Platter acquired it in 1549 and restored it until his death in 1582. An external half-timbered staircase tower was added in 1674. The municipal hospital occupied it from 1842 to 1958; threatened with demolition, the building was saved in 1965 and reopened in 1974, after a complete restoration, to house offices. The other two castles have disappeared: one was demolished in the 19th century to make way for a brewery, the other after 1953 for an apartment block.