Strasbourg Historical Museum

The Historical Museum tells nine centuries of Strasbourg's history, from the Middle Ages to the arrival of the European institutions. It occupies the city's former butchers' hall on Rue du Vieux-Marché-aux-Poissons, close to the Pont du Corbeau. Its centrepiece, a large relief map from 1727, shows the old city at a single glance.

Inside the old butchers' hall

The museum is housed in Strasbourg's former butchers' hall, built in 1587-1588 by the Ill near the Pont du Corbeau, where the meat trade once took place. Founded in 1920, the museum reopened fully renovated in 2013. The building is a fitting setting for a museum about the city: walking in, you already step into a piece of old Strasbourg.

The 1727 city in miniature

The museum's centrepiece is a relief map of Strasbourg dated 1727 and commissioned under Louis XV. Such military models were used to study the kingdom's fortified towns; this one recreates the city, its fortifications, streets and rooftops. It is fun to spot the cathedral, the canals and the districts you have just walked through, and to gauge what has changed since the 18th century.

From the Middle Ages to Europe

Some 1,700 works trace nine centuries of Strasbourg's history along a chronological route running from the Middle Ages to the founding of the European institutions. Free city, Rhineland town, French stronghold, then German and French again: the museum helps you grasp the shifts that shaped Strasbourg's identity. Playful and digital displays make the visit accessible to younger visitors.

A stop in the heart of the Grande Île

The museum is open every day except Monday, from 10 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 6 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 6 pm at weekends; admission is 9 euros (5 euros reduced). It is ideal early in a stay, to give meaning to the walks that follow. The Palais Rohan and the cathedral are a few minutes away on foot, and Quai Saint-Nicolas, across the Pont du Corbeau, extends the stroll along the Ill.