Observatory of Strasbourg Observatory of Strasbourg The Observatory of Strasbourg is an astronomical observatory in Strasbourg, France. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the city of Strasbourg became part of the German Empire. The University of Strasbourg was refounded in 1872 and a new observatory began construction in 1875 in the Neustadt district. The main instrument was a 50 cm Repsold refractor, which saw first light in 1880 (see Great refractor). At the time this was the largest instrument in the German Empire. In 1881, the ninth General Assembly of the Astronomische Gesellschaft met in Strasbourg to mark the official inauguration.The observatory site
European institutions in Strasbourg as the seat of diverse information relays of the European Union, such as the Information Centre on European Institutions (CIIE), the Euro-Info Centre (EIC), the MEDIA Antenna and the European Documentation Centre (EDC) as well as the European Job Mobility Portal, the EURES network. The city also hosted the automated computerised network Schengen Information System and currently hosts the central unit of its new version, the Schengen Information System II, a back-up unit being located in Austria. Other bodies based in the city, most of them unrelated either to the Council of Europe or the European Union but working in