Strasbourg
Administrative centre of the Bas-Rhin département and of Alsace region, northeast France, situated near the German border on the River Ill, 3 km/1.9 mi west of the Rhine near its confluence with the Rhine–Rhône and Rhine and Marne canals; population (1999 est) 264,000; Strasbourg-Kehl agglomeration (2002 est) 652,300. Industries include car manufacture, tobacco, printing and publishing, and preserves. The town was selected as the headquarters for the Council of Europe in 1949, and sessions of the European Parliament alternate between here and Luxembourg. Its majestic Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame, begun in 1015 and completed in 1439, has a famed astronomical clock that was installed in its tower in 1574.
History
The original Celtic village was garrisoned by the Romans until captured in 455 by the Franks, who called it Strateburgum. In 842 the Frankish kings Charles the Bald and Louis the German allied themselves against Lothair I. In 1262, after struggles with the bishops, the burghers secured the status of a free imperial city for Strasbourg. It may have been at Strasbourg in the 15th century that Johannes
Gutenberg invented his printing press. Strasbourg accepted the Reformation in the 1520s and became an important Protestant centre. The town was seized by Louis XIV in 1681 and formally ceded to France by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. In 1870 the town surrendered to the Prussians after a seven-week siege, and was returned to France only after World War I. It was occupied by Germany from 1940 to 1944 during World War II and was severely damaged, though most historic monuments were saved.
Buildings Much of medieval Strasbourg stood on an island in the Ill, and some is still preserved. Other interesting buildings in the city include the church of St Peter (12th–13th centuries, with an 11th-century transept), the church of St Thomas (13th–14th centuries), and the German Renaissance Rathaus (1585). The University of Strasbourg, founded in 1538 as a Protestant university, numbered Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Klemens Metternich among its students. |
Economy Strasbourg has been important from early times as a centre of communications; it is now a railway junction for Paris, the Netherlands, West Germany, and Switzerland. Its river, harbours, and canals make it the chief inland port of France, trading in potash, iron ore, oil, and grain. There are petroleum refineries nearby, and metallurgical goods, chemicals, and food products are produced. The city is famous for its pâté-de-foie-gras (goose-liver pâté) and sauerkraut. |
