Schützenmattpark, Public park in Basel, Switzerland

Schützenmattpark is the eastern part of the Schützenmatte sports area in Basel's Bachletten quarter, bounded by the Schützenhaus, Bundesplatz, General-Guisan-Strasse and Neubadstrasse. It is a public leisure and sports park with a large lawn, trees around the edge and a restaurant in the pavilion that burned down earlier. The Brennerstrasse, named after Ernst Brenner, separates it from the Stadion Schützenmatte and the athletics, football and tennis grounds to the west.

The Schützenmatte grounds were used for shooting from the 15th century, when Basel's Feuerschützen society practised Büchsenschiessen there; the events grew festive and the site became a traditional festival ground. Federal shooting and gymnastics festivals followed, including the 1827 Eidgenössisches Ehr- und Freischiessen, the 1844 and 1879 Schützenfeste and the 1886 Turnfest. After the site passed to the Einwohnergemeinde in 1875/1876 and a new range opened at Allschwiler Weiher in 1899, shooting ended and the area was reused for sport and culture.

The name comes from the Feuerschützen guild, whose shooting ground here grew into a festival site; federal shooting and gymnastics festivals were held in 1844, 1879, 1886 and 1912. The writer Hermann Hesse grew up near the Schützenmatte and wrote about it. Today the eastern part is the public Schützenmattpark, with a large lawn, surrounding trees and a restaurant in the rebuilt pavilion.

The park lies in the Bachletten quarter, bordered by the Schützenhaus, Bundesplatz, General-Guisan-Strasse and Neubadstrasse. The Brennerstrasse separates the green park in the east from the stadium and athletics, football and tennis grounds in the west. The restaurant occupies the site of the former pavilion that burned down.

On 26 July 1913 the aviation pioneer Oskar Bider landed on the Schützenmatte, coming from Milan after a stop at the Gitterli in Liestal. The grounds had earlier hosted the 1844 federal shooting festival together with the 400th-anniversary commemoration of the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs.