Strasbourg

Strasbourg seen from Spot Satellite

Strasbourg is situated at the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the Rhine, which also forms the eastern border of the modern city, facing across the river to the German town Kehl. The historic core of Strasbourg, however, lies on the Grande Île in the river Ill, which here flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from, the Rhine. The natural courses of the two rivers eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city.

The city lies in the Upper Rhine Plain, at between 132 metres (433 ft) and 151 metres (495 ft) above sea level, with the upland areas of the Vosges Mountains some 20 km (12 mi) to the west and the Black Forest 25 km (16 mi) to the east. This section of the Rhine valley is a major axis of north–south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself, and major roads and railways paralleling it on both banks.

The city is some 397 kilometres (247 mi) east of Paris.[20] The mouth of the Rhine lies approximately 450 kilometres (280 mi) to the north, or 650 kilometres (400 mi) as the river flows, whilst the head of navigation in Basel is some 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the south, or 150 kilometres (93 mi) by river.

In spite of its position far inland, Strasbourg has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb),[21][22] though with less maritime influence than the milder climates of Western and Southern France.[23] The city has warm, relatively sunny summers and cool, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, totaling 631.4 mm (24.9 in) annually. On average, snow falls 30 days per year.

The third highest temperature ever recorded was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in August 2003, during the 2003 European heat wave. This record was broken, on June 30, 2019, when it reached 38.8 °C (101.8 °F) [24] and then on July 25, 2019, when it reached 38.9 °C (102.0 °F). The lowest temperature ever recorded was −23.4 °C (−10.1 °F) in December 1938.[25]

Strasbourg's location in the Rhine valley, sheltered from strong winds by the Vosges and Black Forest mountains, results in poor natural ventilation, making Strasbourg one of the most atmospherically polluted cities of France.[26][27] Nonetheless, the progressive disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution in recent years.[28]

Strasbourg, Cathedral of Our Lady

The city is chiefly known for its sandstone Gothic Cathedral with its famous astronomical clock, and for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the Petite France district or Gerberviertel ("tanners' district") alongside the Ill and in the streets and squares surrounding the cathedral, where the renowned Maison Kammerzell stands out.

Notable medieval streets include Rue Mercière, Rue des Dentelles, Rue du Bain aux Plantes, Rue des Juifs, Rue des Frères, Rue des Tonneliers, Rue du Maroquin, Rue des Charpentiers, Rue des Serruriers, Grand' Rue, Quai des Bateliers, Quai Saint-Nicolas and Quai Saint-Thomas. Notable medieval squares include Place de la Cathédrale, Place du Marché Gayot, Place Saint-Étienne, Place du Marché aux Cochons de Lait and Place Benjamin Zix.

Place du Marché aux Cochons de Lait

Place Gutenberg with statue of Gutenberg and Carousel

Maison des tanneurs

View of the Ill with Église Saint-Thomas

In addition to the cathedral, Strasbourg houses several other medieval churches that have survived the many wars and destructions that have plagued the city: the Romanesque Église Saint-Étienne, partly destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombing raids; the part-Romanesque, part-Gothic, very large Église Saint-Thomas with its Silbermann organ on which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Albert Schweitzer played;[32][33] the Gothic Église protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune with its crypt dating back to the seventh century and its cloister partly from the eleventh century; the Gothic Église Saint-Guillaume with its fine early-Renaissance stained glass and furniture; the Gothic Église Saint-Jean; the part-Gothic, part-Art Nouveau Église Sainte-Madeleine etc. The Neo-Gothic church Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Catholique (there is also an adjacent church Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Protestant) serves as a shrine for several 15th-century wood-worked and painted altars coming from other, now destroyed churches and installed there for public display; especially the Passion of Christ. Among the numerous secular medieval buildings, the monumental Ancienne Douane (old custom-house) stands out.

The German Renaissance has bequeathed the city some noteworthy buildings (especially the current Chambre de commerce et d'industrie, former town hall, on Place Gutenberg), as did the French Baroque and Classicism with several hôtels particuliers (i.e. palaces), among which the Palais Rohan (completed 1742, used for university purposes from 1872 to 1895,[34] now housing three museums) is the most spectacular. Other buildings of its kind are the "Hôtel de Hanau" (1736, now the city hall); the Hôtel de Klinglin (1736, now residence of the préfet); the Hôtel des Deux-Ponts (1755, now residence of the military governor); the Hôtel d'Andlau-Klinglin (1725, now seat of the administration of the Port autonome de Strasbourg) etc. The largest baroque building of Strasbourg though is the 150-metre-long (490 ft) 1720s main building of the Hôpital civil. As for French Neo-classicism, it is the Opera House on Place Broglie that most prestigiously represents this style.

Strasbourg also offers high-class eclecticist buildings in its very extended German district, the Neustadt, being the main memory of Wilhelmian architecture since most of the major cities in Germany proper suffered intensive damage during World War II. Streets, boulevards and avenues are homogeneous, surprisingly high (up to seven stories) and broad examples of German urban lay-out and of this architectural style that summons and mixes up five centuries of European architecture as well as Neo-Egyptian, Neo-Greek and Neo-Babylonian styles. The former imperial palace Palais du Rhin, the most political and thus heavily criticized of all German Strasbourg buildings epitomizes the grand scale and stylistic sturdiness of this period. But the two most handsome and ornate buildings of these times are the École internationale des Pontonniers (the former Höhere Mädchenschule, with its towers, turrets and multiple round and square angles[35] and the Haute école des arts du Rhin with its lavishly ornate façade of painted bricks, woodwork and majolica.[36]

The baroque organ of the Église Saint-Thomas

Notable streets of the German district include: Avenue de la Forêt Noire, Avenue des Vosges, Avenue d'Alsace, Avenue de la Marseillaise, Avenue de la Liberté, Boulevard de la Victoire, Rue Sellénick, Rue du Général de Castelnau, Rue du Maréchal Foch, and Rue du Maréchal Joffre. Notable squares of the German district include Place de la République, Place de l'Université, Place Brant, and Place Arnold.

Impressive examples of Prussian military architecture of the 1880s can be found along the newly reopened Rue du Rempart, displaying large-scale fortifications among which the aptly named Kriegstor (war gate).

As for modern and contemporary architecture, Strasbourg possesses some fine Art Nouveau buildings (such as the huge Palais des Fêtes and houses and villas like Villa Schutzenberger and Hôtel Brion), good examples of post-World War II functional architecture (the Cité Rotterdam, for which Le Corbusier did not succeed in the architectural contest) and, in the very extended Quartier Européen, some spectacular administrative buildings of sometimes utterly large size, among which the European Court of Human Rights building by Richard Rogers is arguably the finest. Other noticeable contemporary buildings are the new Music school Cité de la Musique et de la Danse, the Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain and the Hôtel du Département facing it, as well as, in the outskirts, the tramway-station Hoenheim-Nord designed by Zaha Hadid.

Place Kléber

The city has many bridges, including the medieval and four-towered Ponts Couverts that, despite their name, are no longer covered. Next to the Ponts Couverts is the Barrage Vauban, a part of Vauban's 17th-century fortifications, that does include a covered bridge. Other bridges are the ornate 19th-century Pont de la Fonderie (1893, stone) and Pont d'Auvergne (1892, iron), as well as architect Marc Mimram's futuristic Passerelle over the Rhine, opened in 2004.

The largest square at the centre of the city of Strasbourg is the Place Kléber. Located in the heart of the city's commercial area, it was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, born in Strasbourg in 1753 and assassinated in 1800 in Cairo. In the square is a statue of Kléber, under which is a vault containing his remains. On the north side of the square is the Aubette (Orderly Room), built by Jacques François Blondel, architect of the king, in 1765–1772.

The Pavillon Joséphine (rear side) in the Parc de l'Orangerie

The Château de Pourtalès (front side) in the park of the same name

Strasbourg features a number of prominent parks, of which several are of cultural and historical interest: the Parc de l'Orangerie, laid out as a French garden by André le Nôtre and remodeled as an English garden on behalf of Joséphine de Beauharnais, now displaying noteworthy French gardens, a neo-classical castle and a small zoo; the Parc de la Citadelle, built around impressive remains of the 17th-century fortress erected close to the Rhine by Vauban;[37] the Parc de Pourtalès, laid out in English style around a baroque castle (heavily restored in the 19th century) that now houses a small three-star hotel,[38] and featuring an open-air museum of international contemporary sculpture.[39] The Jardin botanique de l'Université de Strasbourg (botanical garden) was created under the German administration next to the Observatory of Strasbourg, built in 1881, and still owns some greenhouses of those times. The Parc des Contades, although the oldest park of the city, was completely remodeled after World War II. The futuristic Parc des Poteries is an example of European park-conception in the late 1990s. The Jardin des deux Rives, spread over Strasbourg and Kehl on both sides of the Rhine opened in 2004 and is the most extended (60-hectare) park of the agglomeration. The most recent park is Parc du Heyritz (8,7 ha), opened in 2014 along a canal facing the hôpital civil.

As of 2020, the city of Strasbourg has eleven municipal museums (including Aubette 1928),[40] eleven university museums,[41] and at least two privately owned museums (Musée vodou and Musée du barreau de Strasbourg). Five communes in the metropolitan area also have museums (see below), three of them dedicated to military history.

The collections in Strasbourg are distributed over a wide range of museums, according to a system that takes into account not only the types and geographical provenances of the items, but also the epochs. This concerns in particular the following domains:

• Old Master paintings from the Germanic Rhenish territories and until 1681 are displayed in the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame (MOND); old master paintings from all the rest of Europe (including the Dutch Rhenish territories) and until 1871, as well as old master paintings from the Germanic Rhenish territories between 1681 and 1871, are displayed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts; paintings since 1871 are displayed in the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (MAMCS).
• Decorative arts until 1681 are on display in the MOND, decorative arts from the years 1681 until 1871 are on display in the Musée des arts décoratifs, decorative arts after 1871 are on display at the MAMCS, with items from each epoch also shown in the Musée historique.
• Prints and drawings until 1871 are displayed in the Cabinet des estampes et dessins, save for the original plans of Strasbourg Cathedral, displayed in the MOND. Prints and drawings after 1871 are displayed in the MAMCS, and in the Musée Tomi Ungerer/Centre international de l'illustration (the combined number of prints and drawings amounts to well over 200,000).
• Artefacts from Ancient Egypt are on display in two entirely different collections, one in the Musée archéologique and the other belonging to the Instituts d'Égyptologie et de Papyrologie of the University of Strasbourg.

A room in the Musée des Arts décoratifs

• The Musée des Beaux-Arts owns paintings by Hans Memling, Francisco de Goya, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Giotto di Bondone, Sandro Botticelli, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, El Greco, Correggio, Cima da Conegliano and Piero di Cosimo, among others.
• The Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame (located in a part-Gothic, part-Renaissance building next to the cathedral) houses a large and renowned collection of medieval and Renaissance upper-Rhenish art, among which original sculptures, plans and stained glass from the cathedral and paintings by Hans Baldung and Sebastian Stoskopff.
• The Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain is among the largest museums of its kind in France.
• The Musée des Arts décoratifs, located in the sumptuous former residence of the cardinals of Rohan, the Palais Rohan displays a reputable collection of 18th century furniture and china.
• The Cabinet des estampes et des dessins displays five centuries of engravings and drawings, but also woodcuts and lithographies.
• The Musée Tomi Ungerer/Centre international de l'illustration, located in a large former villa next to the Theatre, displays original works by Ungerer and other artists (Saul Steinberg, Ronald Searle ... ) as well as Ungerer's large collection of ancient toys.

• The Musée archéologique presents a large display of regional findings from the first ages of man to the sixth century, focusing on the Roman and Celtic period. It also includes a collection of works from Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, assembled and bequeathed by Gustave Schlumberger.[42]
• The Musée alsacien is dedicated to traditional Alsatian daily life.
• Le Vaisseau ("The vessel") is a science and technology centre, especially designed for children.
• The Musée historique (historical museum) is dedicated to the tumultuous history of the city and displays many artifacts of the times, including the Grüselhorn, the horn that was blown at 10 every evening during medieval times to order the Jews out of the city.
• The Musée vodou (Voodoo museum) opened its doors on 28 November 2013. Displaying a private collection of artefacts from Haiti, it is located in a former water tower (château d'eau) built in 1883 and classified as a Monument historique.
• The Musée du barreau de Strasbourg (The Strasbourg bar association museum) is a museum dedicated to the work and the history of lawyers in the city.[43][44]

The Université de Strasbourg is in charge of a number of permanent public displays of its collections of scientific artefacts and products of all kinds of exploration and research.[45]

• The Musée zoologique is one of the oldest in France and is especially famous for its collection of birds. The museum is co-administered by the municipality.
• The Gypsothèque (also known as Musée des moulages or Musée Adolf Michaelis) is France's second-largest cast collection and the largest university cast collection in France.
• The Musée de Sismologie et Magnétisme terrestre displays antique instruments of measure.
• The Musée Pasteur is a collection of medical curiosities.
• The Musée de minéralogie is dedicated to minerals.
• The Musée d'Égyptologie houses a collections of archaeological findings made in and brought from Egypt and Sudan. This collection is entirely separate from the Schlumberger collection of the Musée archéologique (see above).[46]
• The Crypte aux étoiles ("star crypt") is situated in the vaulted basement below the Observatory of Strasbourg and displays old telescopes and other antique astronomical devices such as clocks and theodolites.

• Musée Les Secrets du Chocolat (Chocolate museum) in Geispolsheim[47]
• Fort Frère in Oberhausbergen[48]
• Fort Rapp in Reichstett
• MM Park France, a military museum, in La Wantzenau[49]

• Musica, international festival of contemporary classical music (autumn)
• Festival international de Strasbourg (founded in 1932), festival of classical music and jazz (summer)
• Festival des Artefacts, festival of contemporary non-classical music
• Les Nuits électroniques de l'Ososphère
• Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival is an annual film festival devoted to science fiction, horror and fantasy. It was known as the Spectre Film Festival before 2008.
• Strasbulles is the annual comic con, also known as the European Festival of Bande Dessinée
• The Strasbourg International Film Festival is an annual film festival focusing on new and emerging independent filmmakers from around the world.
• Christkindelsmärik, held from the end of November through December, is an annual Christmas market that dates back to 1570.[54]

Strasbourg, well known as centre of humanism, has a long history of excellence in higher-education, at the crossroads of French and German intellectual traditions. Although Strasbourg had been annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1683, it still remained connected to the German-speaking intellectual world throughout the 18th century, and the university attracted numerous students from the Holy Roman Empire, with Goethe, Metternich and Montgelas, who studied law in Strasbourg, among the most prominent. With 19 Nobel prizes in total, Strasbourg is the most eminent French university outside of Paris.

Up until January 2009, there were three universities in Strasbourg, with an approximate total of 48,500 students as of 2007 (another 4,500 students are being taught at one of the diverse post-graduate schools):[55]

• Strasbourg I – Louis Pasteur University
• Strasbourg II – Marc Bloch University
• Strasbourg III – Robert Schuman University

As of 1 January 2009, those three universities have merged and now constitute the Université de Strasbourg. Schools part of the Université de Strasbourg include:

• Sciences Po Strasbourg (Institut d'études politiques de Strasbourg), the University of Strasbourg's political science & international studies center
• The EMS (EM Strasbourg Business School), the University of Strasbourg's business school
• The INSA (Institut national des sciences appliquées), the University of Strasbourg's engineering school
• The ENA (École nationale d'administration). ENA trains most of the nation's high-ranking civil servants. The relocation to Strasbourg was meant to give a European vocation to the school and to implement the French government's "décentralisation" plan.
• The ISEG Group (Institut supérieur européen de gestion group)
• The ECPM (École européenne de chimie, polymères et matériaux)
• The EPITA (École pour l'informatique et les techniques avancées)
• The EPITECH (École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies)
• The ITIRI (Institute de traducteurs, d'interpretes, et de relations Internationales)
• The INET (Institut national des études territoriales)
• The IIEF (Institut international d'études françaises)
• Three IUTs (Instituts universitaires de technologie located in Schiltigheim, Illkirch, and Haguenau)
• The ENGEES (École nationale du génie de l'eau et de l'environnement de Strasbourg)
• The CUEJ (Centre universitaire d'enseignement du journalisme)
• TÉLÉCOM Physique Strasbourg (École nationale supérieure de physique de Strasbourg), Institute of Technology, located in the South of Strasbourg (Illkirch-Graffenstaden)

Two American colleges have a base in Strasbourg: University of Syracuse, NY, and Centre College, KY. There is also HEAR (Haute école des arts du Rhin) the celebrated art school, and the International Space University in the south of Strasbourg (Illkirch-Graffenstaden).

International schools include:

Multiple levels:

• European School of Strasbourg (priority given to children whose parents are employed at the European institutions)

For elementary education:[56]

• École Internationale Robert Schuman
• International School at Lucie Berger
• Russian Mission School in Strasbourg[57]

For middle school/junior high school education:[56]

• Collège International de l'Esplanade

For senior high school/sixth form college:[56]

• Lycée International des Pontonniers (FR)
• Lycée International Jean Sturm

As one of the earliest centers of book-printing in Europe (see above: History), Strasbourg for a long time held a large number of incunabula — books printed before 1500 — in its library as one of its most precious heritages: no less than 7,000.[61] After the total destruction of this institution in 1870, however, a new collection had to be reassembled from scratch. Today, Strasbourg's different public and institutional libraries again display a sizable total number of incunabula, distributed as follows: Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, ca. 2,120,[61] Médiathèque de la ville et de la communauté urbaine de Strasbourg, 349,[62] Bibliothèque du Grand Séminaire, 238,[63] Médiathèque protestante, 66,[64] and Bibliothèque alsatique du Crédit Mutuel, 5.[65]

The average amount of time people spend commuting on public transport in Strasbourg on weekdays is 52 min. 7% of travellers on public transport travel for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport is 9 min and 11% of passengers wait for more than 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually travel in a single trip on public transport is 3.9 km (2.4 mi), whilst none travels for more than 12 km (7.5 mi) in a single direction.[72]

Strasbourg is the seat of over twenty international institutions,[73] most famously of the Council of Europe and of the European Parliament, of which it is the official seat. Strasbourg is considered the legislative and democratic capital of the European Union, while Brussels is considered the executive and administrative capital and Luxembourg the judiciary and financial capital.[74]

Strasbourg is the seat of the following organisations, among others:

• Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine (since 1920)
• Council of Europe with all the bodies and organisations affiliated to this institution (since 1949)
• European Parliament (since 1952)
• European Ombudsman
• Eurocorps headquarters,
• Franco-German television channel Arte
• European Science Foundation
• International Institute of Human Rights
• Human Frontier Science Program
• International Commission on Civil Status
• Assembly of European Regions
• Centre for European Studies (French: Centre d'études européennes de Strasbourg)
• Sakharov Prize

France and Germany have created a Eurodistrict straddling the Rhine, combining the Greater Strasbourg and the Ortenau district of Baden-Württemberg, with some common administration. It was established in 2005 and has been fully functional since 2010.

• The opening scenes of the 1977 Ridley Scott film The Duellists take place in Strasbourg in 1800.
• The 2007 film In the City of Sylvia is set in Strasbourg.
• Early February 2011, principal photography for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) moved for two days to Strasbourg. Shooting took place on, around, and inside the Strasbourg Cathedral. The opening scene of the movie covers an assassination-bombing in the city.

• One of the longest chapters of Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), "Slawkenbergius' tale", takes place in Strasbourg.[85]
• An episode of Matthew Gregory Lewis' novel The Monk (1796) takes place in the forests then surrounding Strasbourg.
• A part of the story in White Album 2 takes place in Strasbourg.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart called his Third violin concerto (1775) Straßburger Konzert because of one of its most prominent motives, based on a local, minuet-like dance that had already appeared as a tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.[86] It is not related to Mozart's ulterior stay in Strasbourg (1778), where he gave three concert performances on the piano.
• Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 7 was inspired by passages in Goethe's memoirs recalling his time spent at Strasbourg University. The work ends with an orchestral bell sounding the note E, the strike-note of the bell of Strasbourg Cathedral.
• British art-punk band The Rakes had a minor hit in 2005 with their song "Strasbourg". This song features witty lyrics with themes of espionage and vodka and includes a count of 'eins, zwei, drei, vier!!', even though Strasbourg's spoken language is French.
• On their 1974 album Hamburger Concerto, Dutch progressive band Focus included a track called "La Cathédrale de Strasbourg", which included chimes from a cathedral-like bell.
• Strasbourg pie, a dish containing foie gras, is mentioned in the finale of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats.
• Several works have specifically been dedicated to Strasbourg Cathedral, notably ad hoc compositions (masses, motets etc.) by Kapellmeisters Franz Xaver Richter and Ignaz Pleyel and, more recently, It is Finished by John Tavener.