A fee of €7 per person allows entry to the museums (and to ten other Strasbourg museums). Having bought our tickets, we ascended to the first, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts. We moved quickly through the first few rooms, devoted to religious art up to about the 16th century. The painted, carved, or plaster Madonna and Child, Crucifixion, Adoration of the Magi, etc can get repetitive after you’ve seen them in umpteen museums and cathedrals. It’s interesting, though, to see evolving styles.

Our favourite artists began showing up soon after, with the repertoire widening to include secular subjects. Still lifes, landscapes, mythology and portraits, executed by some of Europe’s best: Botticelli, Raphael, Veronese, El Greco, Rubens, Goya, Delacroix, Courbet, Corot and others, ranging from the 14th to the 19th centuries.

My favourites? Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Woman: the velvety sheen of her sleeve is so real! Then there’s a splendid Virgin of the Consolation, her eyes so mesmerising, we stared spellbound for several minutes. And there’s a Corot, of rooftops and chimneys, simple but memorable.

Next was the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, the Museum of the Decorative Arts. Half of this museum consists of the restored Rohan chambers. There are bedrooms, banquet halls, a library, etc, all eye-poppingly opulent. The ceilings are carved polished wood, or ornate gilded stucco. The furnishings are silk and velvet with tassels galore; there are ceramic stoves, Ming vases, Flemish tapestries, murals and glittering chandeliers. One bedroom boasts of a crimson-hung four-poster in which Marie Antoinette once slept. At the entrance to each room are written guides, in multiple languages, explaining the significance of the room and its contents.

The next section of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs celebrates Strasbourg’s decorative arts—such as clocks and mechanical toys. Donated by Strasbourg-born illustrator Tomi Ungerer, the latter’s a delightful collection of toy cars, planes, boats, trains, and little human figures pulling rickshaws, peddling flowers, playing, etc.

And there’s porcelain, the intriguing type manufactured by the Strasbourg family of Hannong. The Hannongs made not just shepherdesses and conventional dinner services, but also utensils in disguise! We saw porcelain geese, cabbages, artichokes, a boar’s head, and lettuce—all realistic, but each a receptacle with a lid. Ingenious, and quirky!

The third of the museums is the Musée Archéologique, the Archaeological Museum. This lies in the basement, and includes exhibits from archaeological excavations across Alsace. We didn’t have much time to visit more than a couple of rooms, but we came across the usual: ceramic urns and pots, bits of jewellery, arrow heads and so on.

Even if, like us, you skip the Musée Archéologique, the Palais Rohan’s still a must-see: the other two museums are superb.

A main part of the Museum is the Cardinals’ Apartments with entry through the Salle du Synode. This huge entrance hall with its high, gilt edged ceiling and massive paintings really set the scene for the rest of my self guided tour. All the rooms were opulent with gold encrusted ceilings and priceless tapestries from the 1600s. I particularly enjoyed The Bishops’ Sitting Room with its gold and white décor and the busts of eight Roman emperors placed on pedestals around the room; the Emperor’s Bedroom where a panel was carved with Napoleon and Josephine’s initials and the Chapel with the original Corinthian pilasters and paneling still in place.

As well as the apartments, the museum features extensive collections of antique furnishings. The largest was an extensive display of porcelain and ceramics made by Strasbourg’s Hannong factory from 1748 to 1760. There were so many glass cases with sets of dishes that it started to become rather ho hum, although porcelain collectors would be in their glory. I was more interested in the clock room with clocks from 14th to 18th century and another display featuring 20th century mechanical toys – planes, trains, automobiles and everything between.

Of the three museums housed in the Palais Rohan, Decorative Arts is the one that would appeal to the widest age group with toys for the kiddies and lots of history and displays for the adults. Admission is €4 per person and the museum is open daily from 10am until 6pm, except Tuesdays. There are no English pamphlets but if you ask at the entrance, they will lend you an English guide that details some of the main features in each area.