Strasbourg – A Bookworm's Paradise

Aug. 10, 2010 - PRLog -- Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region, which is in the north-eastern part of France, located close to the border with Germany and it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin department.  It is widely known for hosting a number of important European institutions such as the seat of several European institutions including 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. The city is the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine.

The Grande Île is the historic centre and is an island in the Ill River; it means Grand Island and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.  At this time it was noted by the International Council on Monuments and sites that Grande Île is 'an old quarter that exemplifies medieval cities'.  Other than the Strasbourg Cathedral Grande Île is also host to four other centuries old churches: St. Thomas, St. Pierre-le-Vieux, St. Pierre-le-Jeune and St. Étienne. To mark the world heritage status in Grande Île, 22 brass plates were placed on the bridges that give access to the island. Grand Île is sometimes referred to as "ellipse insulaire" because of its shape.

Strasbourg has been a bridge of unity between France and Germany for centuries particularly through its university of Strasbourg which is currently the largest in France.  

In Strasbourg is the second largest library in France, it’s the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire which has more than 3,000,000 titles in its collection. It was founded by the German administration after the previous library in the city was destroyed in 1871; it is simultaneously with being a student's and a national library. The other library Bibliothèque municipale de Strasbourg manages a network of ten medium sized libraries in various parts of the town. They also have the largest library in Eastern France that is the Médiathèque André Malraux which is six stories high.

Strasbourg is one of the cities that have one of the earliest centres of book printing in Europe, Strasbourg for a long time held a large number of incunabula in their libraries as one of their most valued heritages but after the destruction a new collection had to be reorganised from scratch.  Today the various libraries in Strasbourg have a large display of incunabula.

Strasbourg is a pedestrian friendly city, a load of large tour groups especially frequent during the summer months and during the annual winter market. The tourist office sells numerous self-guided walking tours throughout the town as cheap as €1.  

There’s something very Novel about the city, everywhere you look you can see why it is ranked highly when it comes to quality of living. This will put your minds to rest as they have some of the highest quality villas in France. Whether you want to go to a library and have a read or just want to tour the city with a guide in your hand Strasbourg will no doubt bring out the bibliophile in you.


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