Basel Paper Mill - Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing, Canton of Basel, Switzerland

4.5 (700 reviews) Monday: Spent 1-2 hours Ranking #1 in Basel Speciality Museums • History Museums

In-depth and Immersive Experience for Paper Nerds

Basel Paper Mill is the national museum for paper, typography and writing. Within the walls of a medieval mill, visitors discover the bookmaking proces from handmade paper to the finished book. On four floors you can experience various workshops with all your senses: crafting your very own handmade paper, write with ink quil, set your name in lead types at the printer's workshop or create your own marbling paper: A lively diversity is the trademark of the museum. With a mix of exhibition and production-workshops the Basel Paper Mill offer a fascinating atmosphere in an authentic environment. A whole range of products is manufactured before the eyes of the visitors for customer orders or sales in the museum shop.
Basel review images

Address

St. Alban-Tal 37, Basel 4052 Switzerland

Mobile

+41 61 225 90 90

Website

http://www.papiermuseum.ch

Email

[email protected]

Working hours

Monday :
Tuesday : 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday : 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday : 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday : 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday : 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Sunday : 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Current local date and time now

Monday, May 13, 2024, 4:51

User Ratings

4.5 based on (700 reviews)

Excellent

75%

Good

23%

Satisfactory

Poor

Terrible

Reviews

4Joe In Branford 5:00 PM Sep 7, 2022
Interesting museum and not just for kids
We decided to hit this museum because I love books and we had seen enough art museums. The exhibits on making paper and printing are best. I recommend this museum as a change of pace from art museums and for those people who like historical information, reading, print media, and such. There are a few areas they could improve. 1. Pay close attention to the map they give you. The rooms are not clearly marked and you frequently find yourself going out of sequence which is confusing. They could do a better job with arrows to guide visitors chronologically. 2. Since we went at 3 pm it seemed we didn’t get a chance to see many of the hands-on demonstrators. The ones we saw were fun, especially making paper. So better to go early. 3. A few sections could use videos if there aren’t enough docents to explain things. I appreciate that they had English translations of placards but frankly some of the technical stuff about printing, mechanization of printing (eg linotype), and lithography were hard to understand and a video demonstration would have helped. A lot.
4jeamon 5:00 PM Oct 1, 2022
In-depth and Immersive Experience for Paper Nerds
We arrived here at 4:00 knowing they closed at 5:00, but due to limited time in Basel we chose to go ahead and tour the museum. We were so glad we did. The machinery and exhibits were informative and accessible -- explanations were given in German, French, and English. The evolution of paper production was fascinating to me. I was especially interested in the process of basically allowing old rags to decay into a moldy paste from which paper was then formed and dried. The inks and colors on display were also very illuminating. Because we were late arriving, we didn't get to make our own paper, but we found the whole experience rewarding nonetheless and would recommend it highly to anyone interested in books, paper, pens, writing, etc...