Basel

Basel (/ˈbɑːzəl/ BAH-zəl, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}German: [ˈbaːzl̩] ⓘ), also known as Basle (/bɑːl/ BAHL),[note 1] is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine.[4] Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich and Geneva), with 177,595 inhabitants within the city municipality limits.[5] The official language of Basel is Swiss Standard German and the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect.[6] Basel is commonly considered to be the cultural capital of Switzerland[7][8] and the city is famous for its many museums, including the Kunstmuseum, which is the first collection of art accessible to the public in the world (1661) and the largest museum of art in Switzerland, the Fondation Beyeler (located in Riehen), the Museum Tinguely and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is the first public museum of contemporary art in Europe.[9] Forty museums are spread throughout the city-canton, making Basel one of the largest cultural centres in relation to its size and population in Europe.[10]