Together with the former canon' houses it forms a lavish complex, which in the 1680s was moved slightly higher up to a green meadow next to the small village of Arlesheim.

Why was a cathedral built in a winegrowing village such as Arlesheim? "When, in 1678, the Basel cathedral chapter returned from exile in Freiburg im Breisgau, they settled in Arlesheim because the village was an exceedingly fertile, healthy and merry place" and in addition was "only an hour away from Basel".

Arlesheim’s cathedral belongs to Switzerland’s first great Early Baroque church buildings. The foundation stone was laid in March 1680 and the building was consecrated by as early as October 1681. Canon houses were built and nobles, highranking clergy, diplomats, artists and craftsman all moved here. The cathedral with its famous Silbermann organ is not only under the Virgin Mary’s protection, but also under federal protection as a cultural monument.