Sélestat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 48°15′37″N 7°27′18″E / 48.26027778, 7.455

Administration
Commune of Sélestat Saint-Georges Church in Sélestat
Location

Country	France
Region	Alsace
Department	Bas-Rhin (sous-préfecture)
Arrondissement	Sélestat-Erstein
Canton	Sélestat (chief town)
Intercommunality	Communes de Sélestat
Mayor	Marcel Bauer (2001–08)
Statistics
Elevation	165–184 (avg. 173 m)
Land area^¹	44.40 km²
Population^² (1999)	17,179
- Density	386.9/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	67462/ 67600
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Reichsstadt Schlettstadt (de)
Ville libre de Sélestat (fr)
Imperial City of Schlettstadt

Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire

1217 – 1648

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Capital

Schlettstadt (Sélestat)

Government

Republic

Historical era

Middle Ages

- Gained Reichsfreiheit

1217

- Occupied by Sweden

1632

- Occupied by France

1634

- Annexed by France

1648

- Occupied by German Empire

1870–1918

Sélestat (French: Sélestat, pronounced [selɛsta]; Alsatian: Schlettstadt, pronounced [ˈʃlɛd̥ʃd̥ɐd̥]; German: Schlettstadt) is a commune of northeastern France, in the Bas-Rhin département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. Population (1999): 17,179.

1 Geography
2 Sights
3 Famous people
4 Twin towns
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Sélestat is located in central Alsace, 22 km north of Colmar and 47 km south of Strasbourg, on the left bank of the Ill River.

Sélestat is near the Alsace wine route, and other notable sites such as the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg.

[edit] Sights

The city is one of the richest and most varied in terms of architecture among the smaller cities of Alsace. Most remarkable are the Romanesque church Sainte-Foy and the Gothic church Saint-Georges, the Baroque clock tower (1618) and the neo-mediæval water tower. Buildings like the town hall (1788), the railway station (1880s) and the synagogue (1890s), as well as several Renaissance and Baroque civil houses are similarly noteworthy.

The Humanist Library displays one of the oldest and most homogenous collection of medieval manuscripts and Renaissance books in Europe. Its core is the still almost intact library of Beatus Rhenanus, that had been bequeathed to the city and kept by it ever since.