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 RhenishRenaissance 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.
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.
[caption id="attachment_203533" align="aligncenter" width="390"] Johannes Brahms in 1889 - New York Public Library - C. Brasch[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna. His reputation and status as a composer are such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nin...