- Ancienne Douane (Old Customs House)

The historical centre of Strasbourg, the Grande-Île, is largely shaped by the separation of the river Ill into 2 arms. It is connected to the rest of the city by 20 or so bridges and walkways and was built around the surrounding water. This gave the city a major economic advantage from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century, and is now the centrepiece of a remarkable urban environment.

The southern arm of the Grande-Île stabilised quickly, which meant the City was able to put buildings up along its banks. The first port was built within this area, before being moved to the porte des Bouchers (the butchers gate, by the port of Austerlitz, to the south of the city). From the 13th to the 16th century, the monopoly held by Strasbourg’s boatmen meant that all goods carried along the Rhine had to go through the port of Strasbourg.

In 1358, the City built a huge warehouse, with a special section for reselling the products on which duty had been paid. The warehouse was built over 2 floors and featured a huge hall with crenelated gables. It rapidly became the focal point of port business, where goods were transferred between the Rhine barges and the boats on the river Ill, after merchants had declared their goods and paid the duty on them. The building was extended a first time in the late 14th century, to include shops and stalls and then again in 1781. It was destroyed in bombing in 1944, but rebuilt in 1956, to the same dimensions as the original and featuring the same type of crenelated gables.

A vast landing wharf was built in 1393, just west of the old Customs house, which included 2 monumental derricks, removed in 1865. These were rectangular timber-frame buildings topped with rotating turrets. Goods were lifted using a wheel-operated winch, capable of handling weights of up to a ton. Deer heads were placed at the tip of the derricks’ arms, in recognition of the role previously played by animals in lifting the merchandise.