One of the best preserved districts of Strasbourg and a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Grande Île, Petite France is a historic quarter of the Strasbourg City in France.
At Petite France, the river Ill splits up into a number of channels that cascade through an area that was, in the Middle Ages, home to the city's tanners, millers and fishermen, and is now one of Strasbourg's main tourist attractions. Petite France forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Grande Île, designated in 1988.

Half-timbered houses with open galleries and network of alleys in Petite France make it one of the most visited districts in Strasbourg. At the beginning of the 12th century, Strasbourg grew to the south out to the Ill Delta. On the four parallel Ill arms, which were channelled during this time, the quarter of tanners and millers developed. It is fundamentally different from the bourgeois quarters around the cathedral. Half-timbered houses with pretty wooden galleries protrude from a multitude of nested alleys in the Petite France.

Already in the Middle Ages, the network of canals favoured the establishment of craft businesses and mills. The district was particularly popular with tanners, who were able to carry out their foul-smelling activity undisturbed here, far away from the town houses. In the 15th century, the Petite France was home to three grain mills and other small businesses.

In order to defend the quarter to the outside, four massive towers were built and connected by bridges over the Ill. The bridges were covered with wooden roofs to protect the soldiers from the cold and rain. In 1686, Vauban, louis XIV's fortress builder, considered this defensive system to be outdated and had the weir named after him built to prevent any attack over the water.

The Vauban weir was raised by one floor in 1865, which has been used as a panoramic terrace since 1966. From the terrace you have an incomparable view over the district. Although the wooden roofs were removed as early as the 18th century, the bridges are still called "Ponts Couverts", i.e. "covered bridges".

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source: wikipedia.org

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