ABSTRACT
Missionary organisations became a major channel between European societies and the colonial world. The multi-functional mission houses in Europe where missionaries were headquartered became the symbols of these religious networks. In written and visual representations, mission houses were portrayed as sites of Christian civilisation, predicated on a pitiful ‘heathen world’ to be converted and brought into a civilised condition, and often contained museums with objects from that world. The mission house of the Basel Mission in Basel, Switzerland (1858–1860) offers a case in point. Furthermore, investigating the building and the ways in which it was made into a meaningful site shows how countries without colonies, such as Switzerland, could share in the images and ideas of imperial culture.
