Mulhouse (France)

Mulhouse is the capital of Southern Alsace and lies in the border triangle between France, Germany and Switzerland.

As the forerunner of the industrial revolution in France, Mulhouse first developed a significant textiles industry and later made a name for itself in chemical and mechanical engineering. Today PSA Peugeot Citroën is the largest employer in Alsace, with over 10,000 employees.

Mulhouse is the seat of the Université de Haute-Alsace and higher education institutions specialising chemistry, the textiles industry and applied sciences.
The rich tradition of the city’s industrial past has laid the foundation for a whole series of important museums, and the city has earned the title “European Capital of Technology Museums” as a result. The automotive museum Musée National de l’Automobile (Schlumpf Collection) is outstanding amongst these. Every year in July, Mulhouse becomes a Mecca for vintage car enthusiasts with its Automobile Parade.

The historic city centre has been painstakingly restored. The Town Hall presents itself in the brightly coloured Rhineland Renaissance style, and the Temple Saint Etienne is known for its 14th-century leaded-glass windows.
The 112-metre high Europe Tower on the Place de l’Europe dominates the city skyline for some distance. Mulhouse shares a major international airport, the EuroAirport, with its neighbours Basel and Freiburg. The TGV Rhin-Rhône connects Mulhouse to Paris in around three hours.

The first friendly contacts between the two cities were made as early as the start of the 1960s. A friendship agreement or “Charte d’amitié” was signed in 1981. In 1990, the mayors of the two cities sealed the city partnership with an agreement.

Meetings between young people and senior citizens, sporting exchanges, joint EU projects and positive economic relationships are key elements of the relationship between Chemnitz and Mulhouse.