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15-913: The square is located on the Grande Île , the ancient city center, and has an elongated rectangular shape that is some 275 metres (902 ft) long and 50 metres (160 ft) wide. It is notable for its prestigious surroundings: the Opera House , the City Hall , the Governor's Palace , the Prefect's Palace , the Strasbourg building of the Banque de France and the historic Mess building . Civilian architecture includes Renaissance (n° 2), Rococo (n°12), Art Nouveau (n° 1), Historicism (n° 22) and Half-timbered Alsatian style (n° 15). At

30-458: A local ethnically German politician executed by French authorities in 1940 on the charges of espionage for Germany. The Aubette was built in 1765–1772 by Jacques François Blondel , architect to King Louis XV of France . In 2006, after a long and careful restoration, the inner decoration of the Aubette, made in the 1920s by Hans Arp , Theo van Doesburg , and Sophie Taeuber-Arp and destroyed in

45-572: Is a vault containing his remains. On the north side of the square is the Aubette (Orderly Room), built by Blondel in 1765–1772. Located in Strasbourg's historic center, the Grande Île ("Large Island"), the area was classified a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honor was placed on an entire city center. The first name of the Place Kléber was Barfüsserplatz ('Square of

60-649: Is an island that lies at the historic centre of the city of Strasbourg in France . Its name means "Large Island", and derives from the fact that it is surrounded on one side by the main channel of the Ill river and on the other side by the Canal du Faux-Rempart , a canalised arm of that river. The Grande Île was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. At the time, the International Council on Monuments and Sites noted that

75-620: The Château d'If , on an island near Marseille . It stayed there for 18 years until Louis XVIII granted him a burial place in his hometown in Strasbourg. He was buried on 15 December 1838 below his statue located in the middle of the Place Kléber. His heart is in an urn in the caveau of the Governors beneath the altar of the St. John Chapel in Les Invalides , Paris . The statue, designed by Philippe Grass ,

90-731: The Hôtel de Hanau (now the City Hall), the Hôtel des Deux-Ponts (birthplace of Ludwig I of Bavaria and now home to the city's military governor), the Hôtel de Klinglin , the Hôtel d'Andlau-Klinglin, and the Hôtel de Neuwiller, among many others. The island is also home to the Episcopal palace of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg . To mark the Grande Île's status as a World Heritage Site, 22 brass plates were placed on

105-454: The Place Kléber , the city's central square. Further south is Strasbourg Cathedral , the world's fourth-tallest church and an ornate example of 15th-century Gothic architecture . At the western end of the island is the quarter of Petite France , the former home of the city's tanners , millers and fishermen , and now one of Strasbourg's main tourist attractions. The Grande Île also houses

120-590: The 1930s, was made accessible to the public again. The work of the three artists had been called "the Sistine Chapel of abstract art ". After his assassination in 1800 in Cairo , the body of Jean-Baptiste Kléber, general during the French Revolutionary Wars , born in Strasbourg in 1753, was repatriated to France. Napoleon , fearing that his tomb would become a symbol to Republicanism , ordered it to stay at

135-609: The Barefoot Nuns' in German ) because a Franciscan monastery was standing along the square). In the 17th century, the name changed to Waffenplatz ('Arms Square' in German). On 24 June 1840, the square was finally renamed for the French general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, also going by 'Kléberplatz' after German annexation. During German occupation in 1940–1944, the place was renamed after Karl Roos,

150-399: The Grande Île is "an old quarter that exemplifies medieval cities". Strasbourg was the first city to have its entire city center be listed as a World Heritage Site. The Grande Île is sometimes referred to as "ellipse insulaire" because of its shape. It measures some 1.25 kilometres (0.78 mi) by 0.75 kilometres (0.47 mi) at its longest and broadest. At the centre of the island lies

165-410: The bridges giving access to the island. Place Kl%C3%A9ber The Place Kléber ( Kleberplatz in German ) is the central square of Strasbourg , France . As the largest square at the center of Strasbourg, in the heart of the city's commercial area, it was named after French revolutionary general Jean-Baptiste Kléber , born in Strasbourg in 1753. In the square is a statue of Kléber, under which

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180-467: The former fluvial customs house Ancienne Douane . Besides the cathedral, the Grande Île is home to four other centuries-old churches: St. Thomas , St. Pierre-le-Vieux , St. Pierre-le-Jeune , and St. Étienne . Being the historical center of Strasbourg and the seat of local secular power, it also houses the city's most imposing 18th-century hôtels particuliers and palaces, including the Palais Rohan ,

195-580: The house of Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich where Rouget de l'Isle reportedly sang the Marseillaise for the first time. These former houses and notable events are commemorated on the façade by a set of plaques . A monument by Georges Saupique close to the Opera House (a sandstone obelisk adorned with bronze statues) commemorates Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque and the Liberation of Strasbourg . It

210-489: The westernmost point of the square, close to the bridge Pont du Théâtre leading to the Neustadt stands the ″ Janus fountain″ ( fontaine de Janus ), designed by Tomi Ungerer and inaugurated in 1988, for the 2000th anniversary of the first mention of Argentoratum . At the site of the current Banque de France building (a grand Louis XV style edifice from 1925–1927) once stood the birthplace of Charles de Foucauld as well as

225-884: Was inaugurated in 1951. A statue of François Christophe de Kellermann by Léon-Alexandre Blanchot (1935) stands nearby. A monument to the Marseillaise, a work by Alfred Marzolff (1922) is located next to the city hall. The Place Broglie is a stop on the Strasbourg tramway , which is served by lines B, C and F. The station stands between two big stops of the Strasbourg tramway : Homme de Fer and République. -Tram B ( Lingolsheim Tiergaertel - Hoenheim Gare ) -Tram C (Gare Centrale - Neuhof Rodolphe Reuss ) -Tram F ( Comtes - Place d'Islande ) 48°35′06″N 7°45′02″E  /  48.585088°N 7.750421°E  / 48.585088; 7.750421 Grande %C3%8Ele (Strasbourg) The Grande Île ( German : Große Insel )

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