Strasbourg

Strasbourg grew from the Roman camp of Argentoratum, first mentioned in 12 BC, on the left bank of the Rhine; the city celebrated its 2,000th anniversary in 1988. In 357 a Roman army defeated the Alamanni nearby, and in 842 the Oaths of Strasbourg, sworn in early forms of French and German, sealed an alliance between two of Charlemagne's grandsons. After the fifth century the old name gave way to Strateburgus, from which Strasbourg comes. From 362 the city was ruled by its bishops, until the citizens rose against them at the Battle of Hausbergen in 1262 and Strasbourg became a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire.

The free city flourished. Johannes Gutenberg worked here, and Strasbourg became one of the first centres of printing; in 1605 Johann Carolus printed what is considered the world's first newspaper. Martin Bucer, John Calvin and Katharina Zell made it a leading city of the Protestant Reformation, and the university was founded in 1538. There were dark years too — the massacre of the Jews in 1349 and the dancing plague of 1518. Louis XIV's armies took the city in 1681, and in 1792 the song that became La Marseillaise was written here.

After the siege of 1870 the city became the capital of the German imperial territory of Alsace–Lorraine, and the Germans built the Neustadt. It returned to France in 1918, was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940 and bombed by the Allies, and was liberated by the 2nd French Armoured Division in 1944. In 1949 it became the seat of the Council of Europe, and later of the European Parliament, turning a city fought over for centuries into a symbol of reconciliation.

Strasbourg has long been a cultural bridge between France and Germany, and it shows. The old town's black-and-white timber-framed houses belong to the Rhineland, the Neustadt's avenues to imperial Germany, and the Palais Rohan to French Baroque. Catholic and Protestant traditions live side by side — Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux has a Catholic church and a Protestant church next to each other — and Alsatian, Strossburi in its local form, remains the traditional dialect, though far less spoken than a century ago.

The university, associated with 19 Nobel prizes, has drawn students since the days when Goethe studied law here, and gives the city much of its energy. The Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, founded in 1855, is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in western Europe, and the city has eleven municipal museums. The presence of the European institutions brings diplomats, interpreters and lobbyists from across the continent.

Christmas is the great season: the Christkindelsmärik, which dates back to 1570, fills the squares of the Grande Île from late November through December and gives the city its claim to be the "capital of Christmas". Sport has a loyal following around Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace in football, SIG Strasbourg in basketball and the Étoile Noire in ice hockey. Cycling is part of everyday life, on more than 500 km of paths.

About 294,000 people lived in the city in 2023, about 523,000 in Greater Strasbourg, and about 875,000 in the wider metropolitan area on the French side, making it the eighth-largest in France. The population is growing slowly and steadily, as is the university, which had about 52,000 students in 2019. Across the Rhine, the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict ties the city to Kehl and the German towns of the Ortenau.

The economy rests on public institutions as much as industry: the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, more than twenty international bodies in all, the regional government of Grand Est, the university and the hospitals. Strasbourg is the second city in France for international congresses after Paris.

Residents live in the apartment blocks of the Neustadt and Krutenau, in districts such as Esplanade and the Conseil des XV, and in suburbs spread along the tram lines. Many commute by bicycle or tram, and the city's transport network keeps cars out of much of the centre. Once a month the Parliament's session fills hotels and restaurants for a few days, and in December the Christmas market crowds change the rhythm of the whole city.

Strasbourg eats as Alsace does. Choucroute garnie — sauerkraut with sausages, salted meats and charcuterie, often with potatoes — is the city's signature dish, and some restaurants also serve it with fish. Tarte flambée, flammekueche in Alsatian, is bread dough rolled out very thin and covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, sliced onions and lardons; despite its French name it is not flambéed but baked in a wood-fired oven.

The traditional restaurants of the Grande Île and Petite France serve these and other Alsatian dishes in timber-framed rooms, while Krutenau's smaller places cater to students with food from many countries. In December the Christmas market stalls add mulled wine and trays of bredele, the small Christmas biscuits Alsatian households bake for the season.

Beer matters here more than almost anywhere else in France: Alsace is the country's leading beer-producing region, with breweries in and near Strasbourg that include Fischer and Kronenbourg. The white wines of the Alsace wine route are mostly made and labelled by grape — Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Sylvaner among them.