User:Paul Hege/Treasury of the Basel Minster

The Treasury of the Basel Minster was the church treasure of the Basel Minster, gathered over the space of over 500 years. During the Middle Ages, Basel was the seat of the Diocese of Basel, and its Minster contained an extraordinarily rich treasure.

History
The recorded history of the treasure begins with the consecration of the Minster in 1019. During five centuries, it contained a growing collection of reliquaries, monstrances and crosses. The treasure survived the iconoclasm of the reformation, during which many religious artworks in Switzerland were destroyed, relatively unscathed, but lost its non-metallic parts, such as books and paraments.