The history of Basel as a museum city goes back a long way. In 1661, the city and the university of Basel acquired the Amerbach-Kabinett, a collection of paintings, drawings and prints, as well as natural history and ethnographic objects, which became the foundation of the first museum open to the public in Europe. Five current Basel museums evolved out of this initial collection: Kunstmuseum, Historisches Museum, Naturhistorisches Museum, Museum der Kulturen and Antikenmuseum. Further museums were founded mainly in the 20th century, and three major private collections were opened to the public towards the end of the century – Fondation Beyeler, Museum Tinguely and Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. 

This was also the period in which Museen Basel was set up. In 1992, the municipal coordination office for museums published the first city-wide museum statistics. The museenbasel.ch website went online in 1996. In 2001, Museen Basel together with the city’s newly founded Museumsdienste (museum services) organised the first “Night of Museums”. In 2013, Museumsdienste was integrated into the Canton of Basel-Stadt’s division of cultural affairs. Nowadays, Museen Basel is a collective platform for Basel’s museums, with the division of cultural affairs assuming responsibility for the overall coordination and communication.