3 Best Sights in Alsace-Lorraine, France

In this labyrinthine, half-timber home, where layers of carved balconies sag over a cobbled inner courtyard, local interiors have been faithfully reconstituted. The diverse activities of blacksmiths, clog makers, saddlers, and makers of artificial flowers are explained with the help of old-time craftsmen's tools and equipment.

Just up the street from the Palais Ducal, this quirky museum is in the Couvent des Cordeliers (Convent of the Franciscans, who were known as Cordeliers until the Revolution). Displays re-create how local people lived in preindustrial times, using a series of evocative rural interiors. Craftsmen's tools, colorful crockery, somber stone fireplaces, and dark waxed-oak furniture accent the tableaulike settings. The dukes of Lorraine are buried in the crypt of the adjoining Église des Cordeliers, a Flamboyant Gothic church; the detailed gisant (reclining statue) of Philippa de Gueldra, second wife of René II, is executed in limestone and serves as a moving example of Renaissance portraiture. The octagonal Ducal Chapel was begun in 1607 in the Renaissance style, modeled on the Medici Chapel in Florence.

There are major restorations underway until 2027, and currently only the Église des Cordeliers is open to the public.

This museum, in a step-gabled former slaughterhouse dating from 1588, contains a collection of maps, armor, arms, bells, uniforms, traditional outfits, printing paraphernalia, and two huge relief models of Strasbourg. The newer collection on the first floor covers civic history from the Napoleonic era to the present day.