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- For other places named Strasburg or Straßburg see Strasburg.
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| City motto: – | |||||
Location of Strasbourg |
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| City proper (commune) |
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| Région | Alsace | ||||
| Département | Bas-Rhin (67) | ||||
| Mayor | Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) |
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| Area | 78.26 km² | ||||
| Population 2004 estimate 1999 census |
(Ranked 7th) 273,100 264,115 |
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| Density | 3,375/km² (1999) | ||||
| Metropolitan area (aire urbaine) |
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| Communes | 182 1 (1999) | ||||
| Area | 1,351.5 km² 1 (1999) | ||||
| Population 1999 census |
(Ranked 9th) 612,104 1 650,000 2 |
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| Yearly growth | +0.81 % 1 | ||||
| Density | 453/km² 1 (1999) | ||||
| Intercommunality - president |
Urban Community of Strasbourg Robert Grossmann (UMP) (since 2001) |
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| Miscellaneous | |||||
| Twin cities | Boston (USA) Leicester (UK) Stuttgart (Germany) Dresden (Germany) Ramat Gan (Israel) |
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| Notes: 1 Only the part of the metropolitan area on French territory |
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Strasbourg (French: Strasbourg; Alsatian: Strossburi; German: Straßburg) is the capital and principal city of the Alsace région of northeastern France, with approximately 650,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 1999. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the préfecture (capital) of the Bas-Rhin département.
The city's name means "town (at the crossing) of roads". Stras- is cognate to the English street, while -bourg and the German -burg ("fortress, town") are cognate to the English borough.
Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as of road, rail and river communications.
Strasbourg is the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights and it hosts the new seat of the European Parliament (with Brussels) after the asbestos scandal in the 1980s.
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Geography
Strasbourg is situated on the Ill River, where it flows into the Rhine on the frontier with Germany. The German town across the river is Kehl.
Sights
River Ill
Petite France district
Strasbourg townscape with the Cathedral Notre-Dame in backgroundThe city is known for its sandstone gothic cathedral, and for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the Petite-France district alongside the river Ill. Strasbourg historic center has been classified a World Heritage site by the UNESCO since 1988, for the first time for a whole city center. Strasbourg also offers high-class neo-classic buildings in its German district (Place de la République, Place Brant), being the main memory of whilelmian architecture since most of Germany suffered intensive damages during World War II.
History
At the site of Strasbourg, the Romans established a military outpost and named it Argentoratum. It belonged to the Germania Superior Roman province. From the 4th century, Strasbourg was the seat of a bishopric.
The Alamanni fought a battle against Rome in Strasbourg in 357. They were defeated by Julian, later Emperor of Rome, and their king Chonodomarius was taken prisoner. On January 2, 366 the Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers, to invade the Roman Empire. Early in the 5th century the Alamanni appear to have crossed the Rhine, conquered and then settled what is today Alsace and a large part of Switzerland.
The town was occupied successively in the 5th century by Alamanni, Huns and Franks, who gave it its present name. In 842, Strasbourg was the site of the Oath of Strasbourg, the text of which is considered to contain the oldest written document in the French language. A major commercial centre, the town came under control of the Holy Roman Empire in 923, through the homage paid by the Duke of Lorraine to German King Henry I. The early history of Strasbourg consists of a long conflict between its bishop and its citizens. The citizens emerged victorious after the Battle of Oberhausbergen in 1262, when King Philip of Swabia granted the city the status of an Imperial Free City.
1888 German map of StrasbourgA revolution in 1332 resulted in a broad-based city government with participation of the guilds, and Strasbourg declared itself a free republic. The minster of Strasbourg was completed in 1439, and became the World's Tallest Building, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza. During the 1520s the city embraced the religious teachings of Martin Luther, whose adherents established a university in the following century.
During the Thirty Years War, the Republic of Strasboug remained neutral. However, it was suddenly seized by King Louis XIV of France in September 1681, whose unprovoked annexation was recognized by the Treaty of Ryswick (1697). The official policy of religious intolerance which drove many Protestants from France after the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685) was not applied in Strasbourg, as the Edict of Nantes (1598) had still been in effect in France at the time of the city's annexation. With the growth of industry and commerce, the city's population tripled in the 19th century to 150,000.
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composed "La Marseillaise" on April 25, 1792 in Strasbourg during a dinner organised by Frédéric de Dietrich, Strasbourg's mayor. However, Strasbourg's status as a free city was revoked by the French Revolution.
Annexed to the newly-established German Empire, as part of the Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen, in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War (Treaty of Frankfurt), the city was restored to France after World War I, in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles. It was again effectively a part of Germany during World War II, from 1940 to 1945.
In 1949, it was chosen to be the site of the Council of Europe, and since 1979, Strasbourg has been the seat of the European Parliment.
Education
Strasbourg, which was a humanism center, has a long history of higher education excellence, melting french and german intellectual traditions. Goethe and Metternich had both studied in Strasbourg. Nowadays, Strasbourg is known to offer among the best university courses in France after Paris universities.
There are three universities in Strasbourg:
- Strasbourg I - Université Louis Pasteur
- Strasbourg II - Université Marc Bloch
- Strasbourg III - Université Robert Schuman
The campus of the École nationale d'administration (ENA) is located in Strasbourg (the former one being in Paris). The location of the "new" ENA - which trains most of the nation's high-ranking civil servants - was meant to give a European vocation to the school.
The permanent campus of the International Space University (ISU) is located in the south of Strasbourg (Illkirch-Graffenstaden).
Tram station in Place de la RépubliqueTransportation
A modern-looking tram system has operated in Strasbourg since 1994.
Two TGV lines are planned to link Strasbourg to the European high-speed train network:
European role
Palais du Rhin, Place de la RépubliqueStrasbourg is sometimes regarded as:
- the capital of Europe as a whole, as the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights (informally known as the "Strasbourg Court"); and
- the "democratic capital" of the European Union, as the first seat of the European Parliament and the only place where the whole parliament regularly meets. The executive capital —Brussels, Belgium— where the MEPs work for the majority of the time is often considered to be the European Union's unofficial capital.
Strasbourg also houses the Eurocorps headquarter
France and Germany are negotiating the creation of a Eurodistrict straddling the Rhine river combining the Greater Strasbourg and the Ortenau district of Baden-Württemberg, with some common administration. The combined population of this "European Washington, D.C." would be 860,000.
Miscellaneous
Births
Strasbourg was the birthplace of:
- Sebastian Brant (1457a href="1521.html" title="1521">1521), satirical poet and humanist
- François Christophe Kellermann (1735a href="1820.html" title="1820">1820), French marshall
- Jean Baptiste Kléber (1753a href="1800.html" title="1800">1800), general
- Gustave Doré (1832a href="1883.html" title="1883">1883), painter
- Paul Émile Appell (1855a href="1930.html" title="1930">1930), mathematician
- Jean Arp (1886a href="1966.html" title="1966">1966), artist
- Tomi Ungerer (born 1931), illustrator and caricaturist
- Herbert Léonard (born 1945), singer
Famous residents
- Johann Gutenberg (1400-1468), inventor of printing with movable type
- Erasmus (1467-1536), humanist
- Martin Bucer (1491–1551), Reformation leader
- John Calvin (1509-1564), Reformation leader
- François-Marie Broglie (1671-1745), marshall and governor of Strasbourg
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), writer, researcher
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), composer
- Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836), composer of the Marseillaise
- Georg Büchner (1813-1837), writer
- Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1830-1889), historian
- Louis Pasteur (1830-1895), scientist
- Lujo Brentano (1844–1931), economist
- Georg Simmel (1858–1918), sociologist
- Jean-Jacques Waltz aka. Hansi (1873-1951), artist
- Marc Bloch (1886-1944), historian and Resistant
- Estelle Oeuvrard (1978-), social activist, famed lover
Twin towns
Strasbourg is twinned with:
- Boston, United States, since 1960
- Leicester, United Kingdom, since 1960
- Stuttgart, Germany, since 1962
- Dresden, Germany, since 1990
- Ramat Gan, Israel, since 1991
- Jacmel, Haiti, since 1996 (Coopération décentralisée)
- Novgorod, Russia, since 1997 (Coopération décentralisée)
- Fes, Morocco (Coopération décentralisée)
See also
- Observatory of Strasbourg
- Musée d'art moderne et contemporain of Strasbourg - Modern and contemporary art museum
- Strasbourg Convention (Patent law)
- Notre-Dame de Strasbourg