History of Champagne

The Carolingian reign saw periods or prosperity for the Champagne region beginning with Charlemagne's encouragement for the area to start planting vines and continuing with the coronation of his son Louis the Pious at Reims. The tradition of crowning kings at Reims contributed to the reputation of the wines that came from this area.

History of Moselle

Moselle is one of the original 83 dé partements created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former province of Lorraine.

In 1793, the foreign enclaves of Manderen, Lixing-lè s-Rouhling, Momerstroff, and Cré hange (Kriechingen), all possessions of princes of the German Holy Roman Empire, were annexed by France and incorporated into the Moselle dé partement.

History of Vosges

The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories formerly part of the province of Lorraine. In German, it is referred to as Vogesen and in Italian as Vosgi.

In 1793 the independent principality of Salm (town of Senones and its surroundings), enclosed inside the Vosges department, was annexed to France and incorporated into Vosges.

Administrative history of Lorraine

It is important to note that the current ré gion of Lorraine is larger than the historical duchy of Lorraine which gradually came under French sovereignty between 1737 and 1766. The modern ré gion includes provinces and areas that were historically separate from the duchy of Lorraine proper.

Transport in Strasbourg

Strasbourg has its own airport, serving a limited number of destinations. Train services operate eastward to Offenburg and Karlsruhe in Germany, westward to Metz and Paris, and southward to Basel. Since June 10, 2007, Strasbourg is linked to the European high-speed train network by the TGV Est (Paris-Strasbourg).

Museums in Strasbourg

For a city of comparatively small size, Strasbourg displays a large quantity and variety of museums:

1. The Musé e des Beaux-Arts owns paintings by Hans Memling, Francisco de Goya, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Giotto di Bondone, Sandro Botticelli, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, El Greco, Correggio, Cima da Conegliano and Piero di Cosimo, among others.
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Parks in Strasbourg

Strasbourg features a number of prominent parks, of which several are of cultural and historical interest: the Parc de l'Orangerie, laid out as a French garden by André le Nô tre and remodeled as an English garden on behalf of José phine de Beauharnais, now displaying noteworthy French gardens, a neo-classical castle and a small zoo; the Parc de la Citadelle, built around impressive remains of the 17th-century fortress erected close to the Rhine by Vauban; the Parc de Pourtalè s, laid out in English style around a baroque castle (heavily restored in the 19th century) that now houses the Schiller International University, and featuring an open-air museum of international contemporary sculpture.

Architecture of Strasbourg

The city is chiefly known for its sandstone Gothic Cathedral with its famous astronomical clock, and for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the Petite-France district alongside the Ill and in the streets and squares surrounding the cathedral, where the renowned Maison Kammerzell stands out.

History of Strasbourg

From Romans to Renaissance

At the site of Strasbourg, the Romans established a military outpost and named it Argentoratum . (Hence the town is commonly called Argentina in medieval Latin.) It belonged to the Germania SuperiorRoman province. The name was first mentioned in the year 12 BC; the city celebrated its 2, 000th birthday of continuous settlement in 1988.

About Bas Rhin

Bas-Rhin is one of the original 83 dé partements created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution.

In the mid-1790s, following the French occupation of the entire left bank of the Rhine, the northern boundary of the dé partement was extended north beyond the Lauter to the Queich river to include the areas of Annweiler am Trifels, Landau in der Pfalz, Bad Bergzabern, and Wö rth am Rhein.

Strasbourg

Is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in northeastern France, with 702, 412 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2007. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the pré fecture (capital) of the Bas-Rhindé partement.

Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions such as the Council of Europe with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Audiovisual Observatory, the Eurocorps as well as theEuropean Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union.

Tourism in Alsace

Having been early and always densely populated, Alsace is famous for its high number of picturesque villages, churches and castles and for the various beauties of its three main towns, in spite of severe destructions suffered throughout five centuries of wars between France and Germany.

Alsace is furthermore famous for its vineyards (especially along the Route du vin from Marlenheim to Colmar) and the Vosges mountains with their thick and green forests and picturesque lakes.

Rivers and Air traffic in Alsace

Port traffic of Alsace exceeds 15 million tonnes, of which about three quarters is centred on Strasbourg, which is the second busiest French fluvial harbour. The enlargement plan of the Rhine-Rhô ne channel, intended to link up the Mediterranean Sea and Central Europe (Rhine, Danube, North Sea and Baltic Sea) was abandoned in 1998 for reasons of expense and land erosion, notably in the Doubs valley.

Trains in Alsace

TER Alsace is the rail network serving Alsace. Its network is articulated around the city of Strasbourg. It's one of the most developed rail network in France, financially sustained partly by the French railroad SNCF, and partly by the ré gion Alsace.

Because the Vosges are surmountable only by the Col de Saverne, it has been suggested that Alsace needs to open up and get closer to France in terms of its rail links.

Roads in Alsace

Most major car journeys are made on the A35 autoroute (with intermittent areas of dual carriageways), which links Saint-Louis on the Swiss border to Lauterbourg on the German border.

The A4 toll-road (towards Paris) begins 20  km northwest of Strasbourg and the A36 toll-road towards Lyon, begins 10  km west from Mulhouse.

Between France and Germany

France had declared the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), and was defeated not only by the Kingdom of Prussia, but also by other German states which at the end of the war led to the unification of Germany. Otto von Bismarck annexed Alsace and northern Lorraine to the new German Empire in 1871; unlike other members states of the German federation, which had governments of their own, the new Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine was under the sole authority of the Kaiser, administered directly by the imperial government in Berlin.

Duchy of Alsace

Roman Alsace

In prehistoric times, Alsace was inhabited by nomadic hunters, but by 1500 BC, Celts began to settle in Alsace, clearing and cultivating the land. By 58 BC, the Romans had invaded and established Alsace as a center of viticulture. To protect this highly valued industry, the Romans built fortifications and military camps that evolved into various communities which have been inhabited continuously to the present day.

Religion in France

France is a secular country as freedom of religion is a constitutional right, although some religious doctrines such as Scientology, Children of God, the Unification Church, and the Order of the Solar Temple are considered cults. According to a January 2007 poll by the Catholic World News: 51% identified as being Catholics, 31% identified as being agnostics or atheists.

Economy of France

France's economy combines extensive private enterprise (nearly 2.5 million companies registered) with substantial (though declining) government intervention (see dirigisme). The government retains considerable influence over key segments of infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunication firms.

Transport in France

The railway network of France, which stretches 31, 840 kilometres (19, 784 mi) is the most extensive in Western Europe. It is operated by the SNCF, and high-speed trains include the Thalys, the Eurostar and TGV, which travels at 320  km/h (200  mph) in commercial use. The Eurostar, along with the Eurotunnel Shuttle, connects with the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel.