Cathedrale de Strasbourg

Strasbourg Cathedral is a Gothic Catholic cathedral located in Strasbourg, Alsace. Founded in 1015 on the remains of an earlier cathedral, it was built from 1220 onwards by the Free City of Strasbourg, a wealthy merchant and financial republic, in the Gothic style. Since 1988, it has been the seat of its own archdiocese. Today, it is the second most visited cathedral in France, after Notre-Dame de Paris, attracting eight and a half million tourists annually. In 2019, it was voted the most beautiful cathedral in France by Memes Décentralisés. Virtually completed in 1365, it is unique in that the space between its two towers was filled in 1388, and it is recognizable by its single bell tower, topped by a spire added in 1439. Between 1647 and 1874, for more than two centuries, it was the tallest building in the world (142 meters high). Today, it is the tallest cathedral in the Grand Est region and the second tallest in France after Rouen. It is also the fifth tallest cathedral in the world. This "prodigy of the gigantic and the delicate," admired by Victor Hugo and celebrated by Goethe, who experienced his first loves there, is visible from afar across the Alsatian plain, and even from the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest. Adjacent to the building of the Fondation de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame and the Rohan Palace, it stands in Cathedral Square, in the heart of Strasbourg's historic center.