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The museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg was founded in 1973 and is one of the largest of its kind in France. It is home to a vast collection of paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, multimedia and design and a wide range of pieces in its photographic library. It owns a total of 18,000 works. Numerous exhibitions are organized annually and the building also houses the art library of the municipal museums, the art book shop of the municipal museums and a multi-purpose auditorium for conferences, films and concerts. The spacious roof terrace accommodates a museum cafe. The exhibition and usable floor space open out on both sides of a central glass covered walk. A horse sculpture (4 meters high) stands on the museum’s roof.

The collection of the museum focuses mainly on the works of Gustave Doré, Jean Arp, Victor Brauner and César Domela (10 works) along with works of contemporary German painters  like Markus Lüpertz, Eugen Schönebeck, Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, A. R. Penck, and many others.

The museum also owns the first cubist painting ever purchased by a public French collection, “Still Life” (1911) by Georges Braque, acquired in 1923, as well as the first painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti purchased by a public French collection, “Joan of Arc Kissing the Sword of Deliverance” (1863), acquired in 1996.

The photographic library of the museum houses several thousand photographs which range right from the origin of photography up until today, including works of Nadar, Eugène Atget, Eadweard Muybridge, Étienne-Jules Marey, August Sander, Willy Maywald, Josef Sudek, Robert Mapplethorpe, Duane Michals and Jan Saudek as well as collections from regional photography. The artistic video collection has works of Bill Viola, Nam June Paik, Woody Vasulka, Olaf Breuning and many others.

Situated in Strasbourg, France, the Cathedral of Our Lady or Strasbourg Cathedral is an exemplary piece of Gothic architecture. Though parts of it are in Romanesque architecture it is still considered to be a specimen of Gothic architecture.

It has a spire of height as large as 142 metres (466 feet). At one point of time it even used to be the tallest building in the world. That was the time before the skyscrapers came into the picture.

Its construction was completed in the year 1439. The site of its construction is also historically significant since a number of holy buildings used to be standing there at one point of time or other. Today its pinkish façade is visible from as far as the Vosges Mountains or the Black Forest.

One of the major attractions of this cathedral is the gigantic astronomical clock that resides within it. The clock displays automata, a perpetual calendar, a planetary dial, a display of the position of the Sun and the Moon, and solar and lunar eclipses and it is a sight to that will hold you awed.

Besides the viewing platform located at the very top of the cathedral features a large number of picturesque views of the city. Though it is a tiring climb, the end is worth all your toil.

All in all, this cathedral, which is the sixth largest in the world, is one that must surely be visited if you ever come to France.

Petite France is actually a small area in Strasbourg lying between the rivers, just south of the Grande Île. It happens to be one of the most photographic areas of Strasbourg with some very pretty streets and buildings, with half timbered townhouses leaning out over the narrow cobbled streets. Petite France resembles Colmar (a city an hour south), with picturesque canal and half-timber houses. In the Middle Age, the Petite-France was the tanning-houses and slaughterhouses area. The area abounds in tourist restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops.

The area gets its name from the “hospice of the syphilitic” (Hospice des Vérolés, in French), which was built in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called the “French disease” in German.

At the far end of a series of canals are the so-called Ponts Couverts (they are in fact no longer covered), built as part of the fourteenth-century city fortifications and still punctuated by watchtowers. Just beyond is a dam built by Vauban (daily 9am–7.30pm; mid-March to mid-Oct till 8pm; free) to protect the city from waterborne assault. The whole area is picture-postcard pretty, with winding streets – most notably rue du Bain-aux-Plantes – bordered by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses adorned with flowers and elaborately carved woodwork.

The city of Strasbourgh has a number of green spots in the form of parks and gardens. However, the most famous and the popular one is the University’s Botanical Gardens which stand at the heart of the city covering an area of 3.5 ha 1 km to the east of the athedral.

The botanical garden is home to almost 6000 plant varieties. It is a favorite among students, researchers, scientists and botany lovers who love to study and observe the huge variety of plants for research and observation purposes. A double storeyed tropical greenhouse houses a collection of remarkable plants, including several palm trees along with several cycases perched atop rocks, covered on the south-facing side with bromeliads and on the north-facing side with ferns. In winter, a 207 sq. m cold house shelters more than 500 plant species from regions with warm winters: conifers from the Southern hemisphere, bulb plants and a collection of cacti and succulent plants.

The Arboretum outside includes some 2,200 trees and shrubs from all the temperate regions. Some of the most remarkable trees are: the Caucasian Wingnut, the Giant Sequoia and five Bald Cypresses, one of which, the Taxodium Ascendens is very rare in Europe.

The garden is also open to the general public who love to take a stroll amidst the beauty of nature and to be a part of various events organized here. Every Sunday afternoon (times depend on the season), a guided tour of the Botanical Gardens is offered to the general public, to allow you to delve into the diversity of the world of plants. It is strongly recommended that children should not be left unsupervised inside the gardens as some of the plants are toxic.

Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace region of France, is known for its European institutions and also for the Grande Île, which was the first city centre to be classified entirely as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Strasbourg is one of Europe’s most attractive cities and the tourists flock here to visit various heritage sites, to discover its history, its cuisine and its unique atmosphere. When in Starsbourg, the tourists can also buy various memos and articles to take back as memories.

Tourists can buy various products from street vendors and various shops at discounts from the general market which is organized in vast parts of the center. When such markets are organized, then the city center is partly closed for parking or driving and the trams don’t go on the rue des Francs Bourgeois.

You can also visit the flea market on rue de Vieil-Hôpital on Wednesday and Saturdays. There is also a shopping centre, Rivetoile, at Place d’etoile, in between the Etoile Polygone and Etoile Bourse tram stops. You can buy cheap as well as expensive goods in this market which also features a number of cafes and restaurants.

For designer clothes and men’s wear, tourists can try Galeries Lafayettes at rue du 22 Novembre and Printemps at 1-5 rue de la Haute Montée. Rue Hellebardes and Gutenberg.  There is a low-budget, secondhand clothing shop in 6, rue de la Lanterne, and various gadget shops can be found in rue des Juifs.

If one is looking for cheap groceries, local wines or beers, then one of the outlets of NORMA would be an ideal choice. NORMA has three outlets at the corner of rue St Michel and rue Ste Marguerite near the central train station; at 79, Grand’Rue near the center of Grand Île; and at 27, rue des Frères near the Cathedral. All these outlets remain open from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 8 pm and on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 7 pm.

When visiting the city in season, the Christmas markets of Broglie and place de la Cathédrale are a must see. There are many other Christmas markets which are held in various parts of the city. The tourists would love the hot wine (vin chaud) andChristmas cookies here.