Quai des Bateliers

The Quai des Bateliers is a long, stone-lined embankment where the Ill River curves through the heart of Strasbourg. For centuries, this was the primary harbor for the city, packed with flat-bottomed wooden boats delivering wine, grain, and timber from the Rhine valley. When the merchant Jean-Baptiste Schongauer built his house here in the sixteenth century, he had a private mooring ring bolted directly into the stone facade, allowing his cargo to be hauled straight from the water into his cellar.