Dornach: a battle, a concrete building and a different canton

Two villages and a castle

For a long time Dornach consisted of two separate parts: Oberdornach on the slope and Dornachbrugg down by the bridge over the Birs. Only towards the end of the 19th century did they grow together. The name appears in 1223.

In 1485 Solothurn bought Dorneck Castle and half the village, and in 1502 the rest. That is why Dornach does not belong to Basel-Landschaft today, although it lies in the middle of it. In 1529 it turned Protestant, and five years later Catholic again.

22 July 1499

In the Swabian War an army of the Swabian League laid siege to Dorneck Castle. The Confederates came down from the Gempen and surprised the besiegers, who felt safe. Towards evening, fresh troops from Lucerne and Zug decided the battle. The imperial commander, Heinrich von Fürstenberg, was killed. Two months later peace was concluded in Basel. An ossuary and a relief by the former monastery commemorate the event.

The Goetheanum

In 1913 Rudolf Steiner was looking for a site for the centre of his movement. Emil and Nelly Grosheintz donated land in Dornach to him for the purpose. The first building, a double-domed timber structure, opened in 1920 and burnt down on New Year's Eve 1922 to 1923.

Steiner designed a second building, this time in concrete. He died in 1925 and did not live to see its opening in 1928. At that point the building was still largely a shell. It has been a listed monument under cantonal protection since 1994. An entire neighbourhood in anthroposophical architecture has grown up around it.

Brass for watches

The railway arrived in 1875, and the metalworks were founded in 1895. They supplied brass to the watch industry and were for a long time the largest employer. On their site, the Wydeneck, a new neighbourhood for up to 1,800 people is to be built over the next fifteen to twenty years.

What it is like to live here

Down below, Dornachbrugg with the railway station, tram and Birs. Up above, the old centre of Oberdornach. Between and above them, the Goetheanum hill with its idiosyncratic houses. Almost half of the municipal area is woodland, and the terrain rises to 687 metres towards the Gempen.

There are primary and secondary schools in the village. The ISB sites in Aesch and Reinach are nearby.

What you need to know

Dornach is Solothurn. That means a different tax system, different school holidays and different fees on purchase than in the two Basel cantons. Work out the taxes for your own case rather than comparing percentages.

The municipal finances are strained. The 2026 budget was rejected twice at the ballot box and finally imposed by the cantonal government, with a tax increase.

The locations on the hill are considerably further from the station than those in Dornachbrugg. The ten minutes to Basel count from the platform.

Sources: Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, Dornach · Municipality of Dornach in figures · Canton of Solothurn, Dornach budget 2026 · HIAG, Wydeneck · Goetheanum, Rudolf Steiner · Solothurn cantonal monument preservation office · Prices: RealAdvisor, October 2026 · Timetable: transport.opendata.ch, regular timetable, 15 December 2026