Explorer Strasbourg

The Palais Rohan is the former residence of the prince-bishops of Strasbourg, built beside the cathedral to designs by Robert de Cotte and completed in 1742. It houses three city museums: archaeology in the basement, decorative arts with the cardinals' state apartments on the ground floor, and European painting up to 1870 on the first floor.

Strasbourg Cathedral, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, is a Gothic cathedral of reddish Vosges sandstone, begun in 1015 and completed in 1439. Its single north spire rises 142 m, and from 1647 to 1874 it was the tallest building in the world. Inside are the astronomical clock and medieval stained glass; a platform on the facade, reached by stairs, overlooks the city.

The Ponts Couverts are three stone bridges and four square towers on the Ill at the edge of Strasbourg's Petite France quarter. Built from 1230 as part of the city's defences, the bridges lost their roofs in 1784 and were rebuilt in stone in 1865; the towers later served as prisons. Today the bridges are a pedestrian route.

Petite France is the south-western part of the Grande Île, the historic centre of Strasbourg, where the Ill splits into several channels. Once home to tanners, millers and fishermen, it is a quarter of half-timbered houses dating back to the 16th century, locks, footbridges and narrow lanes, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 1988.

Place Kléber is the largest square in the centre of Strasbourg, named after General Jean-Baptiste Kléber, who was born in the city in 1753. His statue of 1838 stands over the vault holding his remains, and the north side is closed by the Aubette, built by Jacques-François Blondel in 1765–1772. In winter the square holds the city's great Christmas tree.

The Barrage Vauban is a covered bridge and weir across the Ill in Strasbourg, built in pink Vosges sandstone from 1686 to 1690 to plans by Vauban so the river could be raised to flood the land south of the city. Its 120 m gallery displays casts of sculptures from the cathedral, and its roof terrace looks over the Ponts Couverts and Petite France.