Old Island Media Library

The building was constructed in 1783 at the city's expense, at the request of the Intendant of Alsace, to serve as a hospital for both civilians and military personnel. This building is in the Louis 16 style, characterized by straight, fine, and well-crafted lines giving a beautiful impression of lightness and elegance. It served as a military hospital during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It then served as a workhouse (the equivalent of our current SAMU social) for the Bas-Rhin department. In 1822 the building was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, which first installed a central house for women and then a penitentiary center for men until its closure in 1987. The city bought the buildings. In 1996, a University Institute of Technology (IUT) was set up in the right part / while a large Media Library was opened in the left part, in 2001. Since 2022, the media library belongs to the TILT network, the network of 9 libraries in the Haguenau Agglomeration.

Finally, you should know for the anecdote that before its transformation, this building served as a setting for the filming of the helicopter escape scene from the film “La fille de l’air” with Béatrice Dalle.