Flower delivery to
Cantonal Hospital Baselland Liestal

As early as the 13th century, there is said to have been an “Upper Hospital” within the city walls of Liestal - as a hostel for travelers, pilgrims and beggars, and from the 15th century in particular as a nursing home for its own population. In the 14th century, the “Lower Hospital” was built below the city walls as a leper hospital. The “Upper Hospital” was rebuilt in 1602 and the “Lower Hospital” in 1769. Although the “Upper Hospital” was moved in 1816, the two – the “Upper” and “Lower” – were merged in 1834 as the “Rural Poor Hospital” at the site of the “Lower Hospital”.

Due to the rapidly developing population, the space in the new building also became too limited. Nevertheless, the administrative commission of the church, school and rural poor in 1871 rejected the health council's proposals for financial reasons. So the volunteer poor inspector Birmann took the initiative: the privately commissioned plans were convincing at a meeting of the government council, the health council and the administrative commission in September 1871. On July 22, 1877, the first hospital in Basel, as we understand it today, was inaugurated with 78 hospital and staff beds.

Although renovations were ongoing - including the opening of a segregation house for infectious diseases in 1894 and the addition of two operating theaters in 1906 - and the capacity was gradually increased to 139 beds, there was increasingly a lack of space. The situation became significantly worse when the canton of Basel-Stadt raised hospital taxes for non-residents in 1947 - these were especially Basel residents - and so fewer Basel residents, especially from the Arlesheim district, went to the city of Basel and instead went to Liestal.

In 1951, the “Expert Commission for the Assessment of the Hospital Construction Question” recommended a construction program with two hospitals in Liestal and on Bruderholz, each with 230 beds. The district administrator agreed to this plan and asked the government council to negotiate with its counterpart in Basel-Stadt. As a result, the “Joint Commission for Hospital Issues” was founded in 1952 by the two cantonal governments. Despite the planned construction program, a temporary Durisol barracks with 53 beds was put into operation in 1954 - instead of the Erzenberg sanatorium in Langenbruck, as was planned. In 1957, the “Law Concerning the Hospital System” was adopted and a loan of 28.5 million Swiss francs was granted, which was used for a new building with 315 beds, a nurses' house for 130 nurses, a staff house with 72 beds for administrative staff, and a central laundry and was awarded to a district heating plant. After construction began in 1958, the building was opened in 1962.

The 40-year-old building had to be renovated from 1998 to 2002, and a new ward block 2 and a surgical outpatient clinic were inaugurated in 1998.