The ''Hôtel de Hanau'', also known as the ''Hôtel de ville'' and (in German) as the ''Hanauer Hof'', is a historic building located on Place Broglie on the Grande Île in the city center of Strasbourg, in the French department of the

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

. It has been classified as a Monument historique since 1921.

History

The Hôtel de Hanau stands on a site originally owned by the

rulers A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

Hanau-Lichtenberg The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in ...

, a county of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

. The current building, a typical

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

with a grand portal, a grand courtyard and two ornate façades, was commissioned by Johann Reinhard III, the last Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg, in 1728. It was constructed between 1731 and 1736 by Joseph Massol, who was also the executive architect of Palais Rohan at roughly the same time. It became state-owned (''bien public'') in 1790 in the wake of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. Today the building is the ''Hôtel de ville'' or city hall for the city of Strasbourg, a role it has had since 1805 and the first visit of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, who bestowed propriety of the ''hôtel'' to the city. It is now principally used for weddings, official receptions and banquets, whilst the administration of the city and the Strasbourg Eurométropole is run from the ''centre administratif'' (also known as ''mairie'') near Parc de l'Étoile (built 1973-76). The city hall is not open for tourists apart on special days such as

European Heritage Days European Heritage Days (EHD) is a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission involving all 50 signatory states of the European Cultural Convention under the motto, ''Europe: a common heritage''. The annual programme offers o ...

Gallery

Musée historique de Strasbourg-Sac de l'Hôtel de ville.jpg, Ransacking of the former ''hôtel de ville'' by French Revolutionaries on 21 July 1789 (painting in the Musée historique de Strasbourg) Strasbourg hotHanau-Lichtenberg08.JPG, Grand portal to the courtyard on ''Rue brûlée'' (detail) Straßburg, altes Rathaus, Innenhof.jpg, Center of the façade on the courtyard Strasbourg hotHanau-Lichtenberg26.jpg, Main reception room (current state). On the wall: 1790s Gobelins

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

, copy after ''

The Parnassus ''The Parnassus'' (, referring to Mount Parnassus) is a fresco painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael in the Raphael Rooms ("''Stanze di Raffaello''"), in the Palace of the Vatican in Rome, painted at the commission of Pope Ju ...

'' by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

Strasbourg hotHanau-Lichtenberg19.jpg, Wedding hall (current state)

References

External links

*
''Hôtel de ville - place Broglie''
on archi-wiki.org

Literature

*Recht, Roland; Foessel, Georges; Klein, Jean-Pierre: ''Connaître Strasbourg'', 1988, , pages 116–119

History

Gallery

References

External links

Literature

See also