Today’s Mulhouse, with its historical heritage, its numerous sports and cultural centres, its young and dynamic university, offers an attractive lifestyle. New industries are emerging: Computer-integrated manufacturing; telecommunications; industrial services.
With its favourable location and extraordinary communications network, the city is relying on the famous "Mulhouse model" to enter the third millennium. A model, which combines entrepreneurial spirit, pragmatism, a willingness to rise to challenges, concern for the common good and a tradition for hospitality.
THE OLD TOWN
Place de la Réunion is the heart of Mulhouse. As far back as the Middle Ages, it already hosted markets, fairs and ceremonies. The square boasts a number of historic buildings such as the Town Hall, Saint Étienne’s Church, the Maison Mieg and the Pharmacie aux Lys....
The medieval town was also surrounded by a fortified wall. But as the town developed during the XIXth Century, the ramparts were destroyed and the ditches filled in or covered. Remnants of the fortifications can still be traced from door to door: the Jeune, Mirror, Bâle and High doors. The only parts of the original fortifications still standing today are the Nessel and Devil’s Towers, restored in 1906, and the Bollwerk Tower, restored in 1893.
As the ramparts disappear in the early XIXth Century, the New District is built, symbolizing the success of Mulhousian industrialists. The district grows around a triangular garden, the Square de la Bourse, surrounded by blocks of flats with archways and the monumental hotel of the Mulhouse Industrial Society (an association founded by industrialists in 1826).
MULHOUSE PAINTED WALLS
The famous Mulhouse murals, rich in colours and themes, tell stories of Mulhousian daily life, and narrate scenes from the city’s history. You will discover these many murals around a street corner, or in a backyard. Enjoy this veritable open-air iconographic museum.
THE FORMER TOWN HALL
Built in 1522, this "magnificent gilded palace", as Montaigne put it, is a jewel of Rhenish Renaissance. It symbolises the little republic’s attachment to its freedoms. The frescoes represent the virtues preached by the reformed religion, as well as the coats of arms of the Swiss cantons to which Mulhouse was allied. Above the right gable hangs the "Klapperstein", the gossips’ stone, which scandal-mongers were forced to wear.
SAINT ETIENNE TEMPLE
This temple was built between 1858 and 1868, on the site of a XII-Century church. It was designed by J.B. Schacre, in a neo-gothic style which was then all the rage. It still holds the magnificent stained glass the old church used to house. These are considered to rank among the most beautiful of the upper Rhine.
STEINBACH VILLA
Originally, the site of the house was occupied by the Order of Teutonic Knights. The Order owned a large enclosure, with a chapel and monastic buildings. The land on which the house stands was sold in 1780 to a factory-owner named Vetter, who had the private hotel on it; this is now the Museum of Fine Arts. The house was bought and enlarged by Georges Steinbach in the XIXth Century. In the XVIIth and early XIXth centuries, the Villa was one of the most beautiful residences in town.
Mulhouse Tourism Office
9 Avenue Foch- 68100 Mulhouse
Phone:+33 (0)3 89 35 48 48 - Fax. +33 (0)3 89 45 66 16
e-mail : info@tourisme-mulhouse.com
www.ot.ville-mulhouse.fr
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