Schumann’s Swiss Journey in 1829

[Saturday, 22^nd August – the little Englishman – the Black (?) Forest – getting closer to the Alps – more and more – Kaltenherberg – the stunning Rhine Valley and view of Basle and the Solothurn Alps – a half-crying, half-smiling sky – entering Switzerland – lush meadows – beautiful faces – Basle – Hotel Zum Storch (1) – cleaning myself up – becoming friends with the Hanover officer – coffee house – walking into the gloomy and empty, uneven town – Rhine bridge (2) – the new old-fashioned Town Hall (3), a true picture of the Swiss Republic – the Basle coat of arms mounted everywhere to satiety – the Minster (4) – tombs of Erasmus (5) and Empress Anna (5) – impression of discordance of the Minster – a most exquisite lunch – parting from the Hanover man – loneliness 

– poor sleep – calling on the shy Imhof – coffee house, very similar to a Leipzig one – faceless people – annoying boredom – Petrarch – Imhof – pleasant walk – shooting meadow - beautiful pure evening – harbinger of more beautiful [things to come] – trying to go to Schaffhausen without kronthalers, rejected with an angry smile – parting from Imhof – beautiful brilliant letter to Eduard* - then bad soup, good wine and then, well, this – in the morning to Zurich - -] *Eduard = brother of Robert                                    

Erasmus died in Basle in 1536, his friends Amerbach, Froben and Bischoff then ordered a memorial stone made of red limestone, and the Catholic scholar was buried in the Protestant Basle Minster.

The medallion shows the Roman God of Boundaries, Terminus, whose aphorism “I yield to no one” had been adopted by Erasmus.
The golden inscription acknowledges the achievements of the deceased in 25 Latin lines.

The bones of Erasmus were rediscovered only in 1974 during extensive excavations of the Minster and buried again at the foot of the tomb.

Schumann also saw the tomb of Queen Anna of Habsburg. At her request, the Queen, deceased in 1281, was buried in Basle, as her little son Karl, deceased in 1276 in infancy, had been buried there.
The three coats of arms stand for Austria, the Roman King, and the Duchy of Styria.