Collection

The MKB's collections go back to the mid-19th century. With the valuable Old American holdings of the businessman Lukas Vischer, Basel came into possession of one of the first publicly accessible ethnological collections in Europe.

Initially, private collectors used their own money to travel across continents and bring back to Basel interesting objects and evidence of everyday indigenous culture. What started as a small collection that was part of a universal museum developed, thanks to scholars such as Fritz and Paul Sarasin, Felix Speiser, Paul Wirz and Alfred Bühler, into a stronghold of scientific work and an ethnological museum of international standing.

Today, the MKB is among the most important ethnographic museums in Europe. Its collection of more than 340'000 objects is impressive and of world renown. In addition to ethnographic artefacts, it also has a collection of around 300'000 photographs, 400 films and sound recordings. These are both objects as well as a source for conducting research into the object. They are housed in the Audiovisual Collection.

In the early days, the collection strategy focussed on an encyclopaedic approach. Increasingly, however, contemporary developments and issues influenced the acquisition of objects as well as the acceptance of gifts, bequests and deposits.

View of the collection
Here MKB offers a small selection of objects from its collections. This digital presentation is regularly complemented.