What are the highlight attractions?

Safer Travel
What are the highlight attractions?
What are the highlight attractions?
25th February 2020 Chris Healey

Maison Kammerzell

Near the Place de la Cathédrale is another of Strasbourg’s most important sites, the Maison Kammerzell. This building (now a hotel with a renowned restaurant, located opposite the Tourist Office) is the finest old burgher’s house in the city. Considered a gem of Alsatian architecture, the Kammerzell House features a stone-built ground floor, half-timbered upper floors, traditional leaded windows, and rich carved ornamentation. The building’s ground floor with its carved stone arches served as a space where merchants sold their wares during the 15th century. Another interesting half-timbered house located in the area (at the Place de la Cathédrale and Rue Mercière) is the Pharmacie du Cerf. This building was constructed in 1567 on a site that has been a pharmacy since 1268. Nearby on the Rue des Juifs are the ruins of the ancient Roman fort, giving visitors a sense of the city’s cultural heritage that dates back two millennia.

Eglise de Saint-Thomas

The Church of Saint-Thomas is located on the site of an ancient church built in the early 6th century, dedicated to the Apostle Saint Thomas. After being destroyed by fire, the Church of Saint-Thomas was rebuilt in the 12th century. Strasbourg residents fondly call this church the “petite fille de la cathédrale” (“daughter of the cathedral”). The building exemplifies the Alsatian Gothic style of architecture with five naves of equal height. The choir houses a magnificent Baroque mausoleum of the Maréchal de Saxe, who was famous for his distinguished career in the military. During its 800-year-history, the Church of Saint-Thomas has been most renowned for the role it played during the Protestant Reformation of Alsace. The church was a centre of the Lutheran movement in the region. The church has a clock, which for 400 years has struck the hours four minutes too soon-to make itself heard before the Cathedral clock strikes. The church is still used as a Protestant house of worship and offers religious services every Sunday morning as well as daily at noon.

Eglise Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune

The Eglise Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune was founded in the 7th century as a Merovingian chapel. In the 11th century, the chapel was turned into a Romanesque church and that was transformed into a Gothic-style church during the 13th and 14th centuries. The church nave features beautiful vaulting with carved consoles depicting a lion to represent Saint Mark and a man slaying a dragon. The cloister of Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune dates back to the 11th century and is the only entirely preserved ancient cloister in Strasbourg. During the Reformation (beginning in 1524), the Eglise Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune became a Protestant house of worship and since then has been used for both Protestant and Catholic worship. The Church of Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune is still an important Protestant church in Strasbourg and offers traditional religious services, concerts, and celebrations.
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