Strasbourg Strasbourg Strasbourg (, ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located at the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin department. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants and both the Eurométropole de Strasbourg (Greater Strasbourg) and the Arrondissement of Strasbourg had 484,157 inhabitants. Strasbourg's metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013 (not counting the section across the border in Germany), making it the ninth largest metro area in France
Seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the 1950s buildings of the Strasbourg fair, some of which had to be torn down to make way for the "Immeuble du Parlement européen 4", its formal name. Built at a cost of 3.1 billion French francs (470 million euros) at the intersection of the Ill and the Marne-Rhine Canal, it houses the hemicycle for plenary sessions, the largest of any European institution (750 seats – expanded to 785 – for MEPs and 680 for visitors), 18 other assembly rooms as well as a total of 1,133 parliamentary offices. Through a covered footbridge over the Ill, the Louise Weiss