European institutions in Strasbourg European Studies, CEES) of the University of Strasbourg and subtitled itself "École européenne de gouvernance" (European Governance School). Another related academic institution is the Institut des hautes études européennes (IHEE), located in the Art Nouveau former Villa Knopf (built 1903–1905), close to the Parliament and the CoE. This school was founded in 1953 and was then called "Centre universitaire des hautes études européennes" (University Center for higher European Studies). The École Européenne de Strasbourg has been inaugurated by French education minister Xavier Darcos on 4 September 2008. It is the first school of its kind in France. Strasbourg also serves
History of Strasbourg Hautepierre. In 1958, a violent hailstorm destroyed most of the historical greenhouses of the Botanical Garden and many of the stained glass windows of St. Paul's Church. In 1949, the city was chosen to be the seat of the Council of Europe with its European Court of Human Rights and European Pharmacopoeia. Since 1952, the European Parliament has met in Strasbourg, which was formally designated its official 'seat' at the Edinburgh meeting of the European Council of EU heads of state and government in December 1992. (This position was reconfirmed and given treaty status in the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam).