Elisabethenanlage, Park und ehemaliger Friedhof in Basel
Elisabethenanlage is a park in Basel with large old trees, open lawns, and winding paths running through its roughly 1.2-hectare grounds. The site was converted into a green space after a cemetery closed, and today it features artworks, a fountain from 1865, and a modern music pavilion.
The park was established in 1817 on the site of a former vineyard as a cemetery with around 1000 graves, known as Gottesacker St. Elisabethen. When the new Wolfgottesacker cemetery opened in 1850, city gardener Georg Schuster converted the grounds into the present-day park.
The name Elisabethenanlage recalls the former St. Elisabeth chapel that once stood here. Today, locals use the park as a gathering place and refuge in the city center, where people meet friends, let children play, or sit quietly beneath the old trees.
The park is easily accessible by foot or bicycle from the train station and offers flat, easy-to-walk terrain for all visitors. Choose your route according to how long you wish to spend there, as multiple paths meander through the grounds, allowing for both short strolls and longer explorations.
The park was originally a cemetery whose graves were later moved, and the chapel was converted into a cozy cafe. This unusual history gives the place a quiet, reflective quality that visitors often sense when sitting beneath the large trees.
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