The Musée Historique is housed in the Grande Boucherie, a 16th-century Renaissance building that served as the city's main slaughterhouse for centuries. It stands by the river Ill near the Place du Marché-Gayot. The museum traces Strasbourg's history from its Roman origins (as Argentoratum) through the medieval and early modern periods, the French and German occupations, and into the 20th century.
The collection of relief maps and scale models of the city at different periods is particularly good — several large floor-mounted maps allow you to understand how the city changed shape over time. The German-French cultural hybridity that defines Strasbourg is addressed directly, without either nationalist slant. Closed Mondays.