English
Built and urban heritage has both a tangible dimension (to preserve or to abandon) and a symbolic meaning (within an ‘‘imagined community’’, a term coined by Benedict Anderson). Built heritage in Strasbourg during the period of German annexation (1871-1918) reveal that the policy for preserving the image of the city (image de la ville) finds its origins in the interactions between French and German cultures, and in the reinterpretation of regional traditions, notably through the influence of the Heimatschutz movement.