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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Expand French|date=December 2008|Molsheim|topic=geo}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name                   = Molsheim
|native name            = Molse
|commune status         = [[Subprefectures in France|Subprefecture]] and [[Communes of France|commune]]
|image                  = Eglise des jésuites.jpg
|caption                = ''[[Jesuit Church, Molsheim|Église des Jésuites]]''
|image coat of arms     = Blason Molsheim France Bas-Rhin.svg
|arrondissement         = Molsheim
|canton                 = Molsheim
|INSEE                  = 67300
|postal code            = 67120
|mayor                  = Laurent Furst<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=6 June 2023|language=fr}}</ref>
|term                   = 2020&ndash;2026
|party                  = [[The Republicans (France)|LR]]
|intercommunality       =
|coordinates            = {{coord|48.54|7.49|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m            = 180
|elevation min m        = 165
|elevation max m        = 371
|area km2               = 10.85
|population             = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date        = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}
'''Molsheim''' ({{IPA|fr|mɔlsɛm}}; {{IPA|fr|mɔlsajm|also|Fr-Paris--Molsheim.ogg}}) is a [[Communes of France|commune]] and a [[Subprefectures in France|subprefecture]] in the [[Bas-Rhin]] [[Departments of France|department]] in [[Grand Est]] in north-eastern [[France]].<ref name=cog>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/geographie/commune/67300-molsheim Commune de Molsheim (67300)], INSEE</ref> The total population in 2017 was 9,312. Molsheim had been a very fast-growing city between the French censuses of 1968 and 1999, passing from 5,739 to 9,335 inhabitants, but this increase came to a noticeable halt since.<ref name=pophis>{{cite web
| url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-67300
| title=Évolution et structure de la population en 2017: Commune de Molsheim (67300)
| publisher=[[INSEE]]
| access-date=2020-09-10
}}</ref> The [[urban unit]] of Molsheim had 26,925 inhabitants in 2017, from 16,888 in 1968.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=UU2020-67401#ancre-POP_T1
| title=Évolution et structure de la population en 2017: Unité urbaine 2020 de Molsheim (67401)
| publisher=INSEE
| access-date=17 June 2022
}}</ref> Molsheim is part of the [[functional area (France)|metropolitan area]] of [[Strasbourg]].<ref name=cog/>
==Cityscape==
The old town of Molsheim is well preserved and contains a considerable number of old houses and buildings of typically Alsatian architecture. The most notable buildings are the medieval ''Tour des Forgerons'', the Renaissance ''Metzig'', the baroque (although built in late gothic style) ''[[Jesuit Church, Molsheim|Église des Jésuites]]'' – an inordinately large church insofar as it could house the entire population of the town when built – and the classical ''Hôtel de ville''. The former monastery ''[[Carthusian monastery of Molsheim|La Chartreuse]]'', partly destroyed in the [[French Revolution]], now [[Musée de la Chartreuse, Molsheim|houses a museum]]; covering an area of {{convert|3|ha|lk=in}}, it used to be a genuine city within the city.
<gallery>
File:France Molsheim Eglise des Jesuites Nef.jpg|Nave and choir of Église des Jésuites
Image:Porte des forgerons.jpg|Porte des forgerons
File:Cloitre Molsheim.JPG|Cloister of the former ''Chartreuse'' (Carthusian monastery)
File:Metzig Molsheim.JPG|Metzig (lateral view)
File:Molsheim - Hôtel de ville -1.JPG|Town hall
File:Molsheim - Maison de chanoines - 16 rue Jenner.JPG|House of [[canon (priest)|canons]]
File:Hotel de la Monnaie Molsheim.JPG|''Hôtel de la monnaie'' (old money manufacture)
File:TERAlsace LigneStDié Molsheim BatVoyageurs.JPG|Railway station
</gallery>
==History==
Excavations carried out to the north of Molsheim in 1935 revealed the presence of many [[Merovingian art and architecture|Merovingian]] tombs (sixth and seventh centuries), along the old Roman road going to [[Avolsheim]]. "Mollesheim" was first mentioned about 820, in a deed of donating a vineyard of the bishop Adeloch to the chapter of Saint-Thomas. Bishop Adeloch is buried in the church of [[St Thomas' Church, Strasbourg|Saint-Thomas]] in [[Strasbourg]].
In 1219, the Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] granted the town many rights and franchises. By 1263 Molsheim was already surrounded by a wall which, in the medieval sense, made the town a city. However, the bishops of Strasbourg continued to own properties in Molsheim, resulting in conflicts with the Germanic emperors, a quarrel that was resolved in 1308 in favor of Bishop Jean de Dürbheim (German: Johann I. von Straßburg). Jean de Dürbheim enlarged the city wall in 1318 and built a [[château]]. When the bishop died in 1328, he was entombed in the chapel of a hospice he had founded, the future site of the Jesuit church, which is the present parish church of Molsheim. His tomb is still visible today.
===Molsheim as a center of the Counter-Reformation===
[[File:Guerre des Evêques-1592-Chartreuse de Molsheim.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Etching depicting skirmishes between [[Dachstein, Bas-Rhin|Dachstein]] and Molsheim on 2 December 1592]]
The strength of the [[Protestant Reformation]] in the [[Alsace]] and especially [[Strasbourg]] put pressure on Catholic institutions. In 1580 Laurent Gutjahr, the abbot of Altorf, acquired property in Molsheim; the [[Benedictines]], established since the 11th century in Altorf, a town lacking fortifications, moved here for safety behind the ramparts of Molsheim. Also in 1580, the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] established a school in Molsheim which [[Leopold V, Archduke of Austria]]. Similarly, in 1591, due to the suppression of the [[Carthusians]] in [[Strasbourg]], members of the order [[Carthusian monastery of Molsheim|moved to Molsheim and built a convent]], the splendid stained glass of which was partly destroyed during the [[French Revolution]]. The stained glass that survived the Revolution was eventually transferred to Strasbourg.
[[File:Siege of Molsheim (1610).jpg|right|thumb|Siege of Molsheim (1610)]]
In 1592, with the death of the bishop Jean de Manderscheid, a conflict arouse between the catholic parishioners of Molsheim and the protestant majority in the chapter of the diocese of Strasbourg, who elected [[Johann Georg von Brandenburg]]) as the bishop of Strasbourg; in opposition the catholics elected [[Charles of Lorraine (bishop of Metz and Strasbourg)]]. This resulted in the [[Strasbourg Bishops' War]] (1592–1604), with a dismal effect on Molsheim. In 1618 the [[Thirty Years' War]] broke out, ending with the [[Peace of Westphalia]] in which control of Molsheim was transferred from the [[Holy Roman Empire]] to France.
Molsheim was part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] until 1648, when it found itself located on the French side of the border. Between 1871 and 1919 and again between 1940 and 1944, the German speaking{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} city was part of Germany.
==Coat of arms==
The town's coat of arms features a [[breaking wheel]] of gold, in which a nude man with a golden halo is interlaced and bound, against an azure field. The coat of arms is based on a seal of 1263 representing the martyrdom of [[Saint George]].
==Language==
Historically, several languages have been spoken in the [[Alsace]] region (which included Molsheim), depending on what nation or country has claimed this region and whether some language was imposed or, was willingly adopted. The [[history of Alsace]] records such power struggles and language swaps.
Linguistically speaking, this city is located in what is considered the Northern [[Low Alemannic]] zone of the historical region of Alsace. Prior to the intense "francophonization" in that and other regions of France, after [[World War II]], that dialect of [[Alsatian dialect|Alsatian]], which itself is a derivative of the mentioned Low Alemannic [[German dialects|German dialect]], was spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Molsheim.
Currently, most people in  Molsheim can speak French, which is rapidly replacing Alsatian as the latter [[Alsatian dialect#Speakers|declines]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.headwater.com/blog/alsace-culture-languages/|title = What Language to they actually Speak in Alsace?|date = 31 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/alsace-culturally-not-quite-french-not-quite-german|title=Alsace: culturally not quite French, not quite German|publisher=British council|date=23 February 2017|author=Laura Leichtfried |access-date=2023-03-02}}</ref>
==Toponymy==
It was attested in the form "Mollesheim" (Molles + heim) around 820. (See [[#History|History of Molsheim]]).
[[Albert Dauzat]] and [[Charles Rostaing]] did not comment on the origin of the first element, Molles-, they simply associated it with the name of another town, [[Molring]] (called "Mollering" around 1304) which would be formed with the surname Moller. Moller might be an alternative spelling of Möller, which, in turn, is a variant of Müller ("miller").<ref>Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, ''Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France'', Larousse, Paris, 1963, {{p.|462}}.</ref>
The [r] at the end of Moller would have been assimilated to [s]".
Ernest Nègre explains this toponym by the Germanic personal name Mudila <ref>Noms de personne sur le territoire de l'ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe siècle, I, 169 b</ref><ref>Ernest Nègre, ''Les Noms die Lieux du Tarn'', 1959.</ref> + suffix -heim (home, house, small settlement, village) from Proto-Germanic through Old High German.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/haimaz|title = Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/Haimaz|date = 29 May 2021}}</ref>
Leon Dominian wrote that the "Alemanni are responsible for the suffix "heim" in Alsace. Towns and villages with names bearing this suffix are restricted to the plain". He also explained that the -ingen suffix is a later Allemannic alternative to -heim, which, in time, shortened to -ing or, was frenchified as -ange.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58205/58205-h/58205-h.htm#Page_35|title = The Project Gutenberg eBook of the Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe, by Leon Dominian}}</ref>
==Economy==
Molsheim is notable as the home of the [[Bugatti]] [[automotive industry]] factory.  Production of the [[Bugatti Veyron]] by [[Bugatti Automobiles|Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.]] restarted in [[Dorlisheim]] near Molsheim in 2005. [[Molsheim station]] has rail connections to Strasbourg, Sélestat and Épinal.
==See also==
* [[Communes of the Bas-Rhin department]]
* [[Carthusian monastery of Molsheim]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{EB1911|wstitle=Molsheim|volume=18|page=677}}
==External links==
* [http://www.mairie-molsheim.fr/ Town council website]
* {{Structurae|id=20016742|title=Saint George's and Trinity Church}}
{{Commons category|Molsheim}}
{{Bas-Rhin communes}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Molsheim| ]]
[[Category:Communes of Bas-Rhin]]
[[Category:Bas-Rhin communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Subprefectures in France]]