City Square sights in Alsace & Lorraine
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A
Place de la République
Many of Strasbourg's grandest public buildings, constructed when the city was ruled by the German Reich, huddle northeast of Grande Île around place de la République. The neighbourhood that stretches eastwards to Parc de l'Orangerie is dominated by sturdy stone buildings inspired by late-19th-century Prussian tastes.
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B
Place de la Comédie
Bounded by one of the channels of the Moselle, this neoclassical square is home to the city's 18th-century Théâtre, France's oldest theatre still in use. During the Revolution, place de l'Égalité (as it was then known) was the site of a guillotine that lopped the heads off 63 'enemies of the people'.
The neo-Romanesque Temple Neuf was constructed under the Germans in 1904.
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C
Place St-Louis
On the eastern edge of the city centre, triangular place St-Louis is surrounded by medieval arcades and merchants' houses dating from the 14th to 16th centuries.
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Place Gutenberg
Well worth a peek is for its Renaissance-style Chambre de Commerce (Chamber of Commerce).
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Place Stanislas
Laid out in the 1750s, this neoclassical square is one of France's grandest public spaces and a Unesco World Heritage Site. Designed by Emmanuel Héré, it was named after the enlightened, Polish-born Duke of Lorraine who commissioned it, and whose statue stands in the middle. Your gaze will be drawn to a cluster of opulent buildings, including the hôtel de ville and the sublime Opéra National de Lorraine, as well as gilded wrought-iron gateways by Jean Lamour and rococo fountains by Guibal.
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D
Place de l'Alliance
A block to the east of place Stanislas, this lime-tree-fringed square, also World Heritage material, is graced by a baroque fountain by Bruges-born Louis Cyfflé (1724–1806), inspired by Bernini's Four Rivers fountain in Rome's Piazza Navona.
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E
Place de la Carrière
Adjoining place Stanislas – on the other side of Nancy's own Arc de Triomphe, built in the mid-1750s to honour Louis XV – is this quiet square. Once a riding and jousting arena, it is now graced by four rows of linden trees and stately rococo gates in gilded wrought iron.
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