Tower in Strasbourg Bas Rhin Alsace France
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin department. With 638,670 inhabitants in 2006, Strasbourg's metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau has a population of 884,988. Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions such as the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Audiovisual Observatory) and the Eurocorps as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as of road, rail, and river communications. The port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. The city is the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine. Strasbourg is situated on the Ill River, where it flows into the Rhine on the border with Germany, across from the German town Kehl. The city is situated in the Rhine valley, approximately 20 km east of the Vosges Mountains and 25 km west of the Black Forest. Winds coming from either direction being often deflected by these natural barriers, the average annual precipitation is low and the perceived summer temperatures can be inordinately high. The defective natural ventilation also makes Strasbourg one of the most atmospherically polluted cities of France, although the progressive disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city are showing encouraging results. The city is known for its sandstone Gothic Cathedral with itsastronomical clock, and 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 near the cathedrale.
Size: 3748px × 5627px
Location: Strasbourg Alsace France
Photo credit: © Daniel Valla FRPS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: alsace, alsacian, alsacien, architecture, blanc, building, destination, du, europe, european, europeen, france, french, government, house, ill, place, quartier, rhin, rhine, river, strabourg, strasbourg, strasbourgeois, strasbourgeoise, tourism, travel, typical
