Merian Gardens

Vorder Brüglingen 5, 4052 Basel

By Sabrina Boss

The Merian Gardens and the Christoph Merian Foundation

The Merian Gardens is a favored recreation zone located in the outer skirts of Basel. The gardens are owned by the Christoph Merian Foundation (CMS) and used to be one of the largest private land holdings in Switzerland in the 19th century. It is no coincidence that the Christoph Merian Foundation, a highly visible non-profit entity based in Basel, has such considerable assets and such a large plot of land which is open for any visitors as a place of recreation and cultivation at any time.

Figure 1 Merian Gardens. Photo S. Boss 2.10.2021

This brings us to the rather unknown part of the Gardens’ history. Christoph Merian-Hoffmann, the father of Christoph Merian, was active in the Atlantic Triangular Slave Trade with his company “Frères Merian”.

Figure 2 Transatlantic triangular trade, Creative Commons SA 3.0.1, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17827742, accessed 4.7.2022

On the one hand, he traded colonial goods and fabrics such as the popular Indienne, and even smuggled the products at the time of the Continental Blockade under Napoleon Bonaparte's foreign policy. On the other hand, he invested in ships that transported enslaved Africans across the ocean. Through its machinations, he amassed such a large fortune that Merian-Hoffmann was even considered the richest Swiss of his time. Thus, in 1811, he was able to acquire the extensive Brüglingen plot, which included the agricultural Brüglingerhof and 56 hectares (560,000m2) of land.

Figure 3 Brüglingerhof and its surroundings, property of Christoph Merian and Margaretha Burckhardt, https://www.meriangärten.ch/de/portrait/geschichte/geschichte-details.html.

In 1824, he gave Brüglingen as a wedding gift to his son and Margaretha Burckhardt, the newly married couple. Contrary to family tradition, Christoph Merian had a great interest in agriculture and devoted himself to it with Brüglingen. Therefore, in the following years, they undertook major renovations and established a large agricultural business there. During their lifespan, the area grew to a size of 325 hectares (3’250’000m2). The impressive growth of the parcel in the years 1824 (blue) until 1858 (green) is very well shown on the old map "Basel und Umgebung" from 1880.

Figure 4 Map section from the map “Basel und Umgebung” 1880, published by the Federal Staff Office. Courtesy Christoph Merian Foundation Archives

The couple's life was characterized by deep piety and social responsibility, which is why they carried out a variety of charity works already in their lifespan. Thus, the couple for instance donated the new building of the St. Elisabeth church and subsequently handed it over to the church commission of Baselstadt. Symbolically, they named the church after St. Elisabeth, the patron saint of the poor. Today, the church bears the name "Open Church Elisabethen" and is known for being a discrimination-free space, open to all genders, races, origins, sexual orientations and religions. Due to absence of descendants, Merian drew up a will in which he declared the city of Basel as heiress in order to alleviate poverty, promote the welfare of the people and assist the city in doing so. He therefore demanded that the Basel City Council set up a foundation to manage the assets of his estate after his or his wife's death. Thus, after the death of Margaretha Merian in 1886, who outlived her husband by 30 years, the Christoph Merian Foundation was established, into whose ownership all the assets of the couple passed, including the Merian gardens and associated real estate.

Figure 5 Villa Merian in the early 20th century, https://www.meriangärten.ch/de/news/181127_aufruf-historischebilder.html.

The foundation has conducted projects such as the building of retirement homes and social housing, the restauration of churches, and the openings of museums and public parks.