France - Strasbourg, Petite France

Petite France (also called Gerberviertel = “tanners district”) is the most charming, beautiful and best preserved parts of the historical centre of Strasbourg with its bridges, black and white timber-framed buildings and winding streets. It is considered being one of the most picturesque places in France.

In the early 12th century, Strasbourg began to expand southwards, extending the mediaeval ramparts right up to the delta formed by the river Ill. Petite France grew up around the four arms of the river. With houses built along narrow twisting streets the neighbourhood was markedly different to the much more bourgeois sector around the cathedral. The magnificent half-timbered houses date from the 16th and 17th centuries. Their sloping roofs open out onto lofts where hides were once dried.

The canals built in the Middle Ages brought in fishermen and small industries, including tanneries (the smell of which had to be kept away from the more patrician residences of the city), three flour mills and a lots of other trades.

The name Petite-France ("Little France") was not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. It comes from the Hospice des Vérolés, which was built in the late 15th century in the area, to cure persons with syphilis, then called Franzosenkrankheit ("French disease") in German.

Petite France is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Grande Île, designated in 1988.