The Clara Church is a Catholic parish church. It is one of the many churches in Basel, is located in Kleinbasel and dominates the Claraplatz.

On the site of the present church there was originally a monastery of the Sack Brothers. This order was abolished in 1274 by decision of the Second Council of Lyon. In 1279, Bishop Heinrich von Isny gave the orphaned monastery to the Order of the Clarisses, which has been documented in Basel since 1266. In 1320 the church, which was about 60 meters long, comprised a hall-shaped long choir or the nuns' choir of six bays with a polygon connection. Adjacent to this was a nave of about the same length with three naves, also called the Leutkirche. The building was flat-roofed throughout.

The four western bays, which can be found in today's church, originate from this predecessor building.

In the wake of the Reformation, the nuns' choir was demolished in 1531 and a bulwark was added to the nave in its place. From 1798, the Catholics of Basel were granted hospitality in the church and in 1853 the long choir was given over to the growing congregation. In 1858 an enlargement of the church took place.

City architect Amadeus Merian demolished the bulwark in 1858/1859, doubled the old building according to Gothic models to 9 bays, which ended in a short, polygonal vaulted choir. The nave and the choir were given a pointed roof and the church roof is topped by a ridge turret with a bell.


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