Theme Week Alsace – Mulhouse

Friday, 27 November 2015 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Old town hall on Place de la Réunion © Wladyslaw/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Old town hall on Place de la Réunion © Wladyslaw/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Mulhouse is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 111,000 and 278,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after Strasbourg. Mulhouse is the chief city of an arrondissement of the Haut-Rhin département, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Mulhouse is the principal commune of the 32 making up the Communauté d’agglomération Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération (M2A, population 252,000).

Mulhouse is famous for its museums, especially the Cité de l’Automobile (also known as “Musée national de l’automobile”) and the Musée Français du Chemin de Fer (also known as “Cité du train”), respectively the largest automobile and railway museums in Europe. The town hall was built in 1553 in the Rhenish Renaissance style. Montaigne described it as a “palais magnifique et tout doré” (“a splendid golden palace”) in 1580. It is known for its trompe l’œil paintings, and its pictures of allegories representing the vices and virtues. Workers’ quarter (mid 19th century), inspired workers’ quarters in many other industrial towns. Place de la Bourse and the building of the Société Industrielle de Mulhouse, in the Nouveau Quartier (19th century). An industrial town nicknamed “the French Manchester”, Mulhouse is also the main seat of the University of Upper Alsace, where the secretariat of the European Physical Society can be found.

Place de la Réunion © Zairon/cc-by-sa-3.0 Place de la Bourse © Ji-Elle/cc-by-sa-3.0 Place de la République © Wladyslaw/cc-by-sa-3.0 Café Moll © Ji-Elle/cc-by-sa-3.0 Upper Alsace University © Lydav/cc-by-sa-3.0 Old town hall on Place de la Réunion © Wladyslaw/cc-by-sa-3.0-de
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Old town hall on Place de la Réunion © Wladyslaw/cc-by-sa-3.0-de
Medieval Mulhouse consists essentially of a lower and an upper town. The lower town was formerly the inner city district of merchants and craftsmen. It developed around the Place de la Réunion (which commemorates its reunion with France). Nowadays this area is pedestrianised. The upper town developed from the eighteenth century on. Previously, several monastic orders were established there, notably the Franciscans, Augustinians, Poor Clares and Knights of Malta.

The Nouveau Quartier (New District) is the best example of urban planning in Mulhouse, and was developed from 1826 on, after the town walls had been torn down (as they were in many towns in France). It is focused around the Place de la République. Its network of streets and its triangular shape are a good demonstration of the town’s desire for a planned layout. The planning was undertaken by the architects G. Stolz and Félix Fries. This inner city district was occupied by rich families and the owners of local industries, who tended to be liberal and republican in their opinions. The Rebberg district consists of grand houses inspired by the colonnaded residences of Louisiana cotton planters. Originally, this was the town’s vineyard (the word Rebe meaning vine in German). The houses here were built as terraces in the English style, a result of the town’s close relationship with Manchester, where the sons of industrialists were often sent to study.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on Mulhouse, visit.alsace – Mulhouse, MulhouseBienvenue.com, Upper Alsace University, Wikivoyage Mulhouse and Wikipedia Mulhouse. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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