European institutions in Strasbourg

There are a range of European institutions in Strasbourg (France), the oldest of which dates back to 1815. In all, there are more than twenty different institutions based in the Alsatian city. Due to this concentration Strasbourg is a claimant to the title of "capital of Europe".AreaThe European Quarter is spread over an area covering the districts of Wacken, Orangerie and Robertsau in the north-west of the city and comprising the intersection of the River Ill and the Marne-Rhine Canal. The first specific European building in the area was the Council of Europe's House of Europe in 1949, with the Rhine Commission being located towards the centre of the city. The Audiovisual Observatory and the Institute for Human Rights are the only institutions in the quarter to have moved into pre-existing premises: a 1900 villa and an 18th-century former postal relay station and inn turned conventual building, respectively. The Arte headquarters, previously disseminated on several buildings across the town, were united in a single spacious building close to the Louise Weiss building in 2003. 14 November 2007 saw the extension of the Strasbourg tramway into the European Quarter, with the inauguration by European Parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering, CoE Secretary general Terry Davis and Eurocorps Lieutenant General Pedro Pitarch of the Parlement européen, Droits de l'homme and Robertsau Boecklin tram stations. The newest Council of Europe buildings were inaugurated in 2006 and 2008, and the newest European Union building was inaugurated in 2017.