Petite-France

Petite-France is an area in Strasbourg, Alsace, France.

It is located on the Grande Île (Main Island), where the river Ill splits up into a number of canals and cascades through a small area of medieval half-timbered houses and baroque sandstone buildings.

The name "Petite-France" ("Gerberviertel" in German) was conferred by the former German inhabitants not for architectonical reasons, but because of the numerous prostitutes working there in the Middle Ages — prostitution used to be known in Germany as "the French business". Also, syphilis often contracted in that specific area was then known as "Franzosenkrankheit" ("French disease").

ee also

*Barrage Vauban