It is also known for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the Petite-France district alongside the Ill and in the streets and squares surrounding the cathedral, where the renowned Maison Kammerzell stands out.
Besides the cathedral, Strasbourg houses several other medieval churches that have survived the many wars and destructions that have plagued the city:
- The Romanesque Eglise Saint-Etienne, partly destroyed in 1944 by Anglo-American bombing raids
- The part Romanesque, part Gothic, very large Eglise Saint-Thomas with its Silbermann organ on which W. A. Mozart and Albert Schweitzer played
- The Gothic Eglise Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune protestant with its crypt dating back to the 5th century
- The Gothic Eglise Saint-Guillaume with its fine early-Renaissance stained glass etc.
The Neo-gothic church Saint-Pierre le Vieux catholique serves as a shrine for several 15th-century altars that had been saved from destruction and installed a century ago.
Strasbourg, Cathedral of Our Lady
The German Renaissance has bequeathed the city some fine buildings (especially the current Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie), as did the French Baroque and Classicism with several palaces, among which the Palais Rohan (now housing three museums) is the most spectacular.
Others are the Hôtel du Préfet, the Hôtel des Deux-Ponts and the city-hall Hôtel de Ville (hôtel particulier meaning palace). 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 (Place de la République, Place de l'Université, Place Brant, Place Arnold), being the main memory of Wilhelmian architecture since most of the major cities in Germany proper suffered intensive damages during World War II.
Streets, boulevards and avenues like 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 are homogenous, surprisingly high (up to seven stores) 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 criticised of all German Strasbourg buildings epitomises the grand scale and stylistical sturdiness of this period.
The Théâtre national de Strasbourg, a typically large and heavy Wilhelmian building
As for modern and contemporary architecture, Strasbourg possesses some fine Art Nouveau buildings (the extended Palais des Fêtes, some houses and villas on Avenue de la Robertsau and Rue Sleidan).
Good examples of post-WWII 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 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.
Strasbourg also features a number of prominent parks, of which at least three are of historical interest:
- The Parc de l'Orangerie, created for Joséphine de Beauharnais and displaying beautiful French gardens, a little neo-classical castle and a small zoo
- The Parc de la Citadelle, built around impressive remains of the fortifications erected by Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban
- The Parc de Pourtalès, laid out in English style around a Neo-baroque castle that now houses the Schiller International University.
The Jardin Botanique (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 Jardin des deux Rives, spread over Strasbourg and Kehl on both sides of the Rhine, is the most recent (2004) and most extended (60 hectare) park of the agglomeration.
Finally, the city is also home to some beautiful bridges, among which the medieval Ponts Couverts with its four towers is the most spectacular. Other nice bridges are the ornate 19th-century Ponts de la Fonderie (stone) and d'Auvergne (iron), as well as the futuristic Passerelle over the Rhine, opened in 2004.
Panorama of Strasbourg from the Barrage Vauban with the Ponts Couverts in the foreground (the fourth tower being hidden by trees at the left) and the cathedral in the distance.
