Discover strasbourg, 2000 years of history

"A fine and gigantic wonder"- Victor Hugo

Visible from afar, Strasbourg cathedral is located right in the middle of the city.

Its height and splendor loom over the city. The cathedral is set on a large cobblestone square just like in the medieval time.

It took almost three centuries to complete the construction, the construction of the eastern parts started in 1176 and was only finished in 1439.

The 'Petite France' is the most picturesque quarter of the old Strasbourg. In the old time, the district was the fishermen, millers and tanners quarter, today it is a haven of peace at the heart of the city.

The small streets of 'Little France' display a great number of beautiful half-timbered houses dating from the 16th and 17th century with their vast court yards and sloping roofs, opening on attics where tanners used to dry leather skins. Also do not miss the Covered Bridges and the Vauban fortifications.

Strasbourg is also a green city as many gardens and fountains are located at the heart of the city. The Orangery Park or Parc de l'Orangerie in French, is the largest and the oldest in the city with a folly built in 1804 for The Empress Josephine, who used to visit Strasbourg regularly. The original paths were designed by Le Nôtre, the garden of Versailles designer.

Other gardens and green sites:

• The botanical garden
• The park of the citadel
• Contades garden
• Pourtales garden
• The banks of Ill

Located beside the office of tourism, the most beautiful house in Strasbourg was for centuries, the property of rich business men such as Philippe Kammerzell, a grocer, who owned the house in the 19th century and Martin Braun, a cheese seller, who built the house in the 16th century.

This magnificent church of a Gothic style is a protestant church. In 1031, the actual church was built replacing a Merovingian Chapel consecrated to Saint-Colomban. It was blessed by the Alsatian Pope Leon IX in 1053.

The actual gothic church, a former collegial, has kept the original bell tower and few former Romanesque walls. It has a remarkable jube, beautiful frescos dating from the 14th century and a monastery that still has some columns dating from the 11th century.

Goethe arrived in Strasbourg in a stagecoach on the 2nd of April in 1770, he was 21 years old and was sent by his father to complete his law studies and perfect his french. He stayed at the 'Hotel de l'Esprit' on St.Thomas quay, before renting a room '36 rue du Vieux-Marché-aux-Poissons'. Goethe statue is located on Place de l'Université.