Strasbourg: Cathedral, Quarters and Architecture

Strasbourg lies on the left bank of the Rhine, close to the German border. European and international institutions are based in the city, but its architecture also records a longer history between French and German culture. The historic centre, the waterways of Petite France and the later administrative quarter each belong to a distinct period.

Around the cathedral and central squares

Notre-Dame Cathedral is the main point of orientation in the old city. Work began in the twelfth century and ended in the middle of the fifteenth. Its Gothic fabric, single bell tower and spire rising above 150 metres give it an unusually asymmetrical outline. The building’s history also reflects Strasbourg’s religious and political changes, including disputes from the Reformation through the revolutionary period and later German rule.

Maison Kammerzell stands on Place de la Cathédrale. This timber-framed house dates from the middle of the fifteenth century and combines Renaissance architecture with carvings drawn from sacred and secular life. Nearby squares open the route through the centre. Place Kléber is named after General Jean-Baptiste Kléber and is bordered by the eighteenth-century, neoclassical Aubette, formerly used as a guardhouse and music conservatoire. Place Gutenberg lies on the Grande Île and includes the distinctive building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The eighteenth-century Palais Rohan is a former episcopal palace built in a classical style for the Rohan family, several of whose members led the Strasbourg diocese. Together, these buildings make the cathedral quarter a compact introduction to the city’s medieval, Renaissance and classical layers.

Petite France and the River Ill

Petite France is known for timber-framed houses associated with the city’s former tanning trade. Its name comes from a hospice founded towards the end of the fifteenth century. The district sits among branches of the Ill on the Grande Île, where the streets, water and old working buildings create a close-grained urban landscape.

The Ponts Couverts form part of this waterside area. Despite their name, the three arched bridges no longer have the wooden roofs that once covered them. They belonged to Strasbourg’s defensive system in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and are marked by four fortified towers. Their position explains how the river channels and the city’s fortifications once worked together.

The German-era city and public buildings

Place de la République marked the connection between the old centre and Strasbourg’s new quarter during the period of German administration. Around it are the National and University Library, the building that became the Théâtre national de Strasbourg, the Palais du Rhin and the Palais Universitaire. The theatre building previously housed the parliament of Alsace-Lorraine.

Hermann Eggert designed the Palais du Rhin in 1883 to receive the German emperor after Strasbourg changed hands following the Franco-Prussian War. Its large dome and richly worked interior belong to the Prussian architectural programme of the period. Other nearby buildings extend that history. The early nineteenth-century opera house has a neoclassical front with six columns and muses sculpted by Landolin Ohmacht; its rear was altered during reconstruction after damage in 1870.

Saint-Paul is a late nineteenth-century Reformed Protestant church by Louis Müller. Its tall twin spires and numerous entrances reflect its original use by the German garrison, whose soldiers entered according to rank. The Catholic church of Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune, built in pink sandstone at the end of the same century, uses a neo-Romanesque design centred on a high dome.

Decorative arts and the Orangerie

The Musée de l’Œuvre-Notre-Dame brings together regional decorative arts and architectural material from churches. Its collections include metalwork, stained glass, woodwork and ivory sculpture, while a medieval garden based on fifteenth-century paintings occupies the centre of the museum.

For a change of scale, Parc de l’Orangerie covers 26 hectares opposite the Council of Europe. Its design is attributed to Le Nôtre. The park’s name recalls 400 orange trees confiscated from a nearby château after the Revolution, and the Pavillon Joséphine was added in the early nineteenth century for Joséphine de Beauharnais.