Sélestat

French commune
nomcommune=Sélestat
Saint-Georges Church in Sélestat
région=Alsace
département=Bas-Rhin ("sous-préfecture")
arrondissement=Sélestat-Erstein
canton=Sélestat (chief town)
insee= 67462
cp= 67600
maire=Marcel Bauer
mandat=2008-
intercomm= Communes de Sélestat
longitude= 7.455
latitude= 48.26027778
alt moy= 173 m
alt mini=165
alt maxi=184
hectares= 4,440
km²= 44.40
sans= 19,200
date-sans=2005
dens= 432.4
date-dens=2005Infobox Former Country
native_name = "Reichsstadt Schlettstadt" (de)
"Ville libre de Sélestat" (fr)
conventional_long_name = Imperial City of Schlettstadt
common_name = Selestat|
continent = Europe
region = Rhine basin
country = France
era = Middle Ages
status = City-state
empire = Holy Roman Empire
government_type = Republic|
year_start = 1217
year_end = 1648|
event_start = Gained "Reichsfreiheit"
date_start =
event1 = Occupied by Sweden
date_event1 = 1632
event2 = Occupied by France
date_event2 = 1634
event_end = Annexed by France
date_end =
event_post = Occupied by German Empire
date_post = 1870–1918|
p1 =
flag_p1 =
image_p1 =
s1 = Early Modern France
flag_s1 = Flag of the Kingdom of France.png|capital = Schlettstadt (Sélestat)|
footnotes =

Sélestat ( _fr. Sélestat, pronounced|selɛsta; Alsatian: "Schlettstadt", pronounced IPA| [ˈʃlɛd̥ʃd̥ɐd̥] ; _de. Schlettstadt) is a commune of northeastern France, in the Bas-Rhin "département", of which it is a "sous-préfecture". Population (2005): 19,200.

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.

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 [http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/photos.cfm?ID=s0028051 Sainte-Foy] and the Gothic church [http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/photos.cfm?ID=s0028052 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.

Famous people

*Martin Bucer
*Heinrich Kramer
*Johannes Mentelin
*Beatus Rhenanus
*Jakob Wimpfeling

Twin towns

* Charleroi, Hainaut, Belgium, since 1959
* Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria, since 2006
* Grenchen, Solothurn, Switzerland, since 1988
* Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, since 1966

External links

* [http://www.ville-selestat.fr/ City council website] fr icon