Molsheim

Molsheim Molse
Église des Jésuites
Coat of arms
Molsheim
Location within Alsace region Molsheim
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine
Department	Bas-Rhin
Arrondissement	Molsheim
Canton	Molsheim
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Laurent Furst (PR)
Area1	10.85 km2 (4.19 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	9,382
• Density	860/km2 (2,200/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	67300 / 67120
Elevation	165–371 m (541–1,217 ft) (avg. 180 m or 590 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Molsheim (French pronunciation: ​[mɔlzaim]) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine in north-eastern France. The total population in 2006 was 9,382. Molsheim had been a very fast-growing city between the French censuses of 1968 and 1999, passing from 5,739 to 9,331 inhabitants, but this increase came to a noticeable halt since. The metropolitan area of Molsheim had 11,760 inhabitants in 2006, from 7,747 in 1968.

Cityscape

The old town of Molsheim is well preserved and contains a considerable number of old houses and buildings of typically Alsatian architecture. The most notable buildings are the medieval Tour des Forgerons, the Renaissance Metzig, the baroque (although built in late gothic style) Eglise des Jésuites - an inordinately large church insofar as it could house the entire population of the town when built - and the classical Hôtel de ville. The former monastery La Chartreuse, partly destroyed in the French Revolution, now houses a museum ; covering an area of 3 hectares (7.4 acres), it used to be a genuine city within the city.

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  Nave and choir of Église des Jésuites

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  Porte des forgerons

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  Cloister of the former Chartreuse (Carthusian monastery)

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  Metzig (lateral view)

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  Town hall

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  House of canons

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  Hôtel de la monnaie (old money manufacture)

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  Railway station

History

Molsheim was part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648 when it found itself located on the French side of the border. Between 1871 and 1918 and between 1940 and 1944, it was annexed by Germany.

A number of Merovingian tombs, dating from the sixth and seventh centuries were discovered in 1935 to the north of the town, on the Roman road leading from Avolsheim.

Economy

Molsheim is notable as the home of the Bugatti automotive industry factory. Production of the Bugatti Veyron by Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. restarted in Dorlisheim near Molsheim in 2005.

See also

• Communes of the Bas-Rhin department

References

• IGN

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Town council website
• Saint George's and Trinity Church at Structurae