"Marchés de Noël in Strasbourg" a Strasbourg Travel Page by JLBG

You can visit Strasbourg any time from January through November. In December, you will not visit Strasbourg but the Marchés de Noël in Strasbourg. The typical small wooden booths will have mushroomed everywhere in the city, in every square, not leaving a single square inch free, while hordes of visitors will have invaded the city. Agoraphobics, give up! As most regular sights will be half hidden by the Marché de Noël's booths and by the crowd, photos will be difficult! Anyway, if they are not, the sky is most likely to be dull and cloudy, even possibly raining as global warming has made snowing unlikely and photos will not be sharp and glowing. Moreover, if this is not the case and that the sun is shining, days are so short that you have better to take advantage of every second of it. Anyway, if you have not booked a hotel long long in advance (or have a friendly home to welcome you), you will not find any free room a hundred kilometers around, then…

As for us, we were in Strasbourg December 8th and 9th and enjoyed it a lot but from the above, do not expect good photos of the city (another visit is scheduled for that) but mostly of the Marchés de Noël.

I must however give a short account of the history of the city. Gallic hunters and fishers founded the first village amidst a large swamp sitting between the many arms of the Ill river, a tributary to the Rhine river. As it was a strategic place, a main crossroad, the Roman built an important fortified camp, Argentoratum. Later, Alamans, Franks and others invaded the city. The Franks gave it the name of Strasbourg.

In 842, by the Serment de Strasbourg (Oath of Strasbourg), Louis le Germanique (Louis the German) and Charles le Chauve (Charles the Bald), sons of Louis le Pieux (Louis the Pious) also called Louis le Débonnaire, allied together against their brother Lothaire in order to share the Empire of their grandfather Charlemagne (Charles the Great).

The Serment de Strasbourg was the first document written both in Roman language, ancestor of French, spoken by the soldiers of Louis and in Tudesc, ancestor of German, spoken by the soldiers of Charles (see full text in tip). It marks the beginning of the two poles that will play a main part in Europe's history, the Regnum (future kingdom of France) and the Imperium (future Holly Roman Empire), looking like the heir of the Antiquity's Roman Empire.

Strasbourg has been a bishopric since the 4th and soon became one of the most important in Europe. In 870, it became part of Germany. After a very complex history and a lot of turmoil, it became in 1681 part of France. Germany took it again in 1870 while it was freed on November 22nd 1918 and went back to France. During WWII, it was occupied by the Nazi army and freed on November 23rd 1944 by General Leclerc after a great deal of destructions.
Such a history, stretched along two millenaries made of Strasbourg a symbol for the friendship between the nations, heirs of Charlemagne Empire, and legitimated it as a seat for several European Institutions.

The city is called Strasbourg in French and Straßburg in German, pronounced Strossburi in Alsatian. Its inhabitants are called Strasbourgeois in French, Straßburger in German and Steckelburjer in Alsatian.

The whole old city, standing between two arms of the Ill river has been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list in December 1988 under the title "Strasbourg, large island". It includes the Gothic Cathedral, Saint Thomas church (XIIth - XVth), Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux (XIIth - XIVth), Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune (XIIIth - XVth), Saint-Etienne (XIIIth), the Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame, the Ponts Couverts, the Palais Rohan and the streets, alleys, quays, bridges, etc.