Christoph Merian
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Christoph Merian (22 January 1800 – 22 August 1858) was a Swiss banker, businessman,
land owner Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...
and philanthropist of the
Merian family The Merian family is a patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family of Basel, Switzerland. It consists of two branches (an 'elder Basel line' and a 'younger' one) who were citizens of Basel from 1498 and from 1549/1553. The family were repre ...
. In 1840, Merian was the largest private land owner in Switzerland and one of the richest Swiss citizens.


Early life and education

Merian was born 22 January 1800 in
Basel, Switzerland Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zurich and Geneva), with ...
, to Christoph Merian Sr. (1769–1849), a merchant and manufacturer, and Valeria Merian (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Hoffmann). He had five siblings, of whom four died prematurely, and his sister Susanna died aged 25. His father was once the richest Swiss citizen with an estimated net worth of 9 million Swiss Francs at the time of his death in 1849 (approximately 450 million in 2025). He was a member of the older lineage of the
Merian family The Merian family is a patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family of Basel, Switzerland. It consists of two branches (an 'elder Basel line' and a 'younger' one) who were citizens of Basel from 1498 and from 1549/1553. The family were repre ...
belonging to the Daig. The family initially lived in the ; later they moved into a house on the St. Alban Graben. In 1811, his father bought the estate in Brüglingen, Münchenstein where the family would spend the summer. He attended the private boys school of Johann Heinrich Munzinger from 1805 to 1808 and then entered ''Gymnasium Zur Burg''. In 1815, the family settled in
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
and by 1816 he began his apprenticeship as a merchant. In 1818, he began an education as an agronomist and visited the "Landwirtschaftliches Institut Hofwil" (agricultural institute of
Hofwil Hofwil is a village in the canton of Bern, Switzerland, part of the municipality of Münchenbuchsee. The village of Hofwil was originally part of the lands owned by the Münchenbuchsee Commandery, a medieval commandery of the Knights Hospitaller i ...
) of Phillipp Emanuel von FellenbergWanner, Gustav Adolf (1958) pp.134–136 near
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. The institute was well-known and had several members of the European and Russian nobility among its alumni. Several young men from Basel also attended the agricultural institute. During the year he stayed in Hofwil, he attended classes on planting, preparation of the soil, fertilizer treatment, breeding, the mechanization of agriculture and veterinary medicine. In 1819, he enrolled into the "Landwirtschaftliche Akademie" (agricultural academy) in Hohenheim near
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
in 1818, where the cultivation of forests was a primary field of education. Hohenheim was a boarding school in which, besides forestry, classes in mineralogy, chemistry, and veterinary medicine were included in the curriculum and the students were free to attend the classes they wanted. He stayed in Hohenheim until 1821, following which he accompanied Theodor von Speyr, a merchant in his father's service, on a journey to
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,
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, and
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in England, and
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and
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in France.


Professional career

He lived as a banker, businessman and agriculturist on the farming estate of Brüglingen in Münchenstein near Basel. He achieved large financial gains with his firm "Frères Merian" in by-passing the Napoleonic
Continental System The Continental System or Continental Blockade () was a large-scale embargo by French emperor Napoleon I against the British Empire from 21 November 1806 until 11 April 1814, during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on 21 No ...
.


Legacy

Today, he is remembered mainly for founding the Christoph Merian Stiftung (Christoph Merian Foundation - CMS), a highly visible non-profit entity that continues to support social, cultural, ecological and economic projects to the benefit of the general population in the Basel region to this day. As of 2006, its worth was 289 million Swiss Francs, in addition to the 900 ha of land it owns. The institution was founded in Christoph Merian's Testament (dated 26.03.1857), in which he made an endowment/beneficence to the city of Basel. This came into legal effect when his widow Margaretha (1806-1886) died on 3 May 1886. He and his wife are buried in the Elisabethenkirche, whose construction he encouraged and also financed. The Merian Gardens are located in the estate he received for his wedding. When the city of Basel rebuilt the Middle Bridge in Basel, the Government of Basel did not have sufficient financial means, so the CMS financed 3/4 of the cost of building the bridge.


Personal life

He was born into the
Merian family The Merian family is a patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family of Basel, Switzerland. It consists of two branches (an 'elder Basel line' and a 'younger' one) who were citizens of Basel from 1498 and from 1549/1553. The family were repre ...
, one of the most distinguished, aristocratic families in Basel. In 1824, he married Margarethe Burckhardt, the daughter of an industrialist. As a wedding present, they received the country estate in Brüglingen and the country house
Villa Merian The Villa Merian, with its English Garden, stands on the elevated plain above Brüglingen in Münchenstein, in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. Geographical location The geographical area Brüglingen is a plane ...
, which his father had bought in 1811. He subsequently enlarged the estate several times, and at the time of his death it spanned over 324 hectares. His father, Christoph Merian Senior, was a merchant who started with handling raw cotton, later with shipping/transport, banking and various speculative businesses. Christoph Merian Senior ended his various businesses in 1810 and subsequently invested in the industry and banking activities.


References


Literature

*Gustav Adolf Wanner: ''Christoph Merian'', Basel, 1958 *Rudolf Suter: ''Die Christoph Merian Stiftung'', Basel, 1986


External links

*Personenlexikon des Kantons Basel-Landschaft: Merian Christoph
available in archive.org
*Christoph Merian Stiftung: http://www.merianstiftung.ch *Merian Park Brüglingen: https://web.archive.org/web/20120714232526/http://www.bogabrueglingen.ch/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Merian, Christoph Münchenstein Businesspeople from Basel-Stadt 1800 births 1858 deaths Swiss bankers
Christoph Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German variant of Christopher. Notable people with the given name Christoph * Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician * Christoph Büchel (born 1966), Swiss artist * Christoph Dientzen ...
19th-century Swiss businesspeople