Ribeauvillé (Rappoltsweiler in German, Rappschwihr in Alsatian) is a French commune located in the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region. This town is located in the historical and cultural region of Alsace. Its inhabitants are called the Ribeauvillois and the Ribeauvilloises. It had the status of sub-prefecture until January 1, 2015, when the arrondissement joined that of Colmar to form the arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé.
In the center of the village there are many beautiful old
half-timbered houses from the 16th and 17th centuries, for example in
the Grand'Rue (No. 7 and No. 99), in the Rue des Frères-Martian, in the
Rue des Juifs and in the rue Klobb. They are houses with carved mullions
and wooden galleries, or Renaissance buildings with ornate portals, bay
windows and stair towers.
1 Friedrich Fountain with statue "Ville de
Ribeauvillé" (Fontaine Friedrich (XVIe-XIXe) et statue "Ville de
Ribeauvillé") from 1862 on the Place de la Sinne. The fountain
symbolizes the town of Ribeauvillé, its agriculture and industry.
2
Market fountain in front of the Town Hall − The richly decorated
fountain from 1536 in front of the town hall on the Place Hôtel de Ville
("Market Square") bears a lion holding the city coat of arms with its
paws.
3 Fountains on the Place de la République
4 Fontaine du
Vigneron ("Fountain of the Winegrower"): The fountain was built in 1909
in front of today's tourist office. In this building at the entrance to
the old Town was formerly the customs office, which collected a tax for
all imports and exports. The fountain testifies to the importance of
viticulture for the domestic economy.
5 Pfifferhüs ("Pfeifferhaus"):
The inscription above the house entrance "Ave Maria Gracia Plena" dates
from 1663, in which the pilgrimage to the Monastère
Notre-Dame-de-Dusenbach (in the NW of the village location) took place.
The 15th-century chapels of Düsenbach were demolished in the 17th
century and restored in 1894. The Brotherhood of Travelling Musicians
(Pfiffer), mentioned since 1390, was under the protection of the lords
of Ribeaupierre. The gable wall of the house 8 Grand'Rue commemorates
the 600th anniversary of the Pfifferdajs ("Pfeiffer Day") in 1990 with a
painting depicting 4 Pfeiffers.
6 Town Hall (Hôtel de Ville) : The
Hall of honor of the town hall is entirely lined with a red type of
fabric, the special shade of which has made the reputation of the
Alsatian textile industry since 1870. The Ribeaupierres owned
fire-gilded silverware. This treasure was entrusted to the city Council
during the 30-year war and can therefore be seen in the so-called "Red
Hall".
7 Église de Couvent
8 Parish church of
Saint-Grégoire-le-Grand (Église Saint-Grégoire-le-Grand) , 13th - 15th
century
9 Tour des Baucher ("Butcher's Tower") − The gate tower once
separated the middle and Old Town. The lower part dates back to the 13th
century, the upper part with the large clock, the platform and the
tracery parapet is from 1536.
10 Museum of Viticulture (Musée de la
Vigne et de la Viticulture) , the private wine and viticulture museum is
equipped for the visually impaired.
11 Ancienne Halle au Blé ("Old
Grain Hall"), 1 rue des Tanneurs: the first mention in the document was
in 1431. Here the grain dues to the lords of Ribeaupierre were kept. The
facade has preserved its two Gothic gates out of the city. In front of
the hall there is a fountain with the year 1559.
12 Place de la 1ère
Armée : In the northern center of the square stands the former "Hostel
for the Elephant", today the Winstub de la Poste, named after the post
office, which used to be located at the end of the Rue de la Halle au
Blé ("Street of the Granary").
13 3 Rue des Juifs - This property,
formerly a brewery, was the town house of the nobles of Rathsamhausen, a
widely branched Alsatian noble family, vassals of the Ribeaupierres. The
courtyard still bears the original pavement.
14 Fontaine du Cerf
(fountain to deer"): At the fountain you can see the coat of arms of the
Ribeaupierre. Jean-Jacques R., the last of his line, lived here and died
in 1673.
15 75 Grand'Rue - Coat of arms on the old town hall from
1544
16 7 Grand'Rue : former. Hotel zur Stadt Nancy. An oval
cartouche is mounted above the Renaissance portal of the house, the
inscription of which reflects the price of wine and grain at that time.
Inscription: "Renovated by Heinrich Miller and Anna Maria Beck in his
marital home Fiaw. Ano 1694. At that time the Fitl was good. Weitzen 22
r., the Fiertel Korn 18 r., the Fuder Kellerwein 132 r."
17 62
Grand'Rue : memorial plaque at the residence of Leon Boll (1862-1916),
French statesman and patriot, comrade-in-arms of Georges Clemenceau and
editor-in-chief of his " L'Homme Enchaîné from 1914, founder of the
Strasbourg Journal d'Alsace-Lorraine, advocate of the Idée Française
during the seizure of Alsace-Lorraine by the Germans. Boll was born in
Eguisheim and married a winemaker's daughter from Ribeauvillé in 1885.
Until the start of his journalistic career, he worked as a winemaker.
18 78 Grand'Rue - The Siedel House: The house of the eponymous butcher
has side windows that allow seeing without being seen. "Curulic chairs"
are incorporated into the half-timbered structure.
19 59 Grand'Rue -
the inhabitants of this house have given him a special facade
decoration: colorful dolls, chickens, pigs, etc. are in the windows.
Three castles are among the landmarks of the city of Ribeauvillé.
They are located on the same mountain and rise with their impressive
outlines over the city and the surrounding plain.
20 Château de
St-Ulrich. The ruin of the Ulrichsburg towers at an altitude of 510 m
above the Strengbach Valley. It was the residence of the powerful lords
of Ribeaupierre/Rappoltstein until the beginning of the 16th century and
one of the most remarkable fortifications in the region.
21 Château
du Guirsberg. Castle ruins Girsberg. 13th Century.22 Château du
Haut-Ribeaupierre. Castle ruin Hohrappoltstein. 12th Century.
Notre-Dame de Dusenbach: Since the Middle Ages, this pilgrimage site
Valley of the Dusenbach, a side valley of the Strengbach, has been one
of the most renowned and most visited Marian places of worship in
Alsace. It owes its origin to Egenolph II of Rappoltstein, son of
Egenolph d'urslingen, the founder of this line of the noble family.
Egenolph II was the builder of the Ulrichsburg, which was built on the
site of a predecessor from the 11th century. He took place as a crusader
on the 4th Crusade (1202-1204). After his return, he had a chapel built
in Dusenbach and erected a statue of the Madonna there, which he had
brought from Constantinople in 1204. Over time, the chapel was destroyed
several times and rebuilt thanks to the charity of pilgrims. the last
building was erected in 1894, followed by the large church in 1903; it
was consecrated in 1912. Since 1904, when Capuchin monks settled here,
thousands of pilgrims, hikers and tourists have been received here.
Visitors are best to leave their car in the Strengbach Valley and
continue on foot. After about 600 m the goal is reached.
By train
The Ribeauvillé railway station in the industrial area on
the Route de Ribeauvillé on the way to Guémar is out of service. The
nearest train stations with TGV stops are in Sélestat (Schlettstadt) and
Colmar.
On the street
Route des Vins d'Alsace - Alsatian Wine
Route
At the end of the A35 motorway / D83 expressway exit:
"Ribeauvillé/ Bergheim" and then D106.
The old town, where most of the sights can be found, is mostly pedestrian zone or traffic-calmed. In addition, the Grand'Rue, the main street through the old town, has only about 25 m of slope on a length of about 1,250 m.
The old town is dotted with souvenir and other shops for daily or souvenir needs. On the road to Guémar, at the gates of the old town, there is also a large Leclerc supermarket with a gas station and car wash.
A variety of restaurants offer good Alsatian cuisine in the old town and outside, which mainly uses regional products. In addition, there are several winegrowers' parlors and wine tasting stations.
Pfifferdaj. (Fête des Ménétriers, also Jour des Fifres, "Piper's Day") − Every first Sunday in September, Ribeauvillé is the scene of a traditional festival. Street musicians from all over the region confirm the oath of allegiance to their former noble patron, the Seigneur de Ribeaupierre. See Pfeifer law at Wikipedia.
In a document dating from 1084, Emperor Henry IV of
Franconia donated land called Rapoldestein to the Bishop of Basel.
In 1178, the bishop restructured his episcopal county with the
agreement of the count of Ferrette. The bishop of Basel receives in
exchange the land of Ribeauvillé or Ribeaupierre, with the related
princely rights and the duties of protection of the Christian
populations. Around 1185, he ceded it to one of his vassals, soldier
and squire, Lord Eguenolf d'Urslingen or Egeloff d'Urselingen, from
a Swabian house formerly established in Wurtemberg.
It would
be wrong to improperly confuse the small town of Ribeauvillé at the
entrance to Strengbach with the seigneurial and count dynasty. It
exists, with its vineyard or artisan, bourgeois, noble or worker
houses, well before the erection of the summit castle which became
the “prince's castle”, before the construction of the parish church
and the cellar of the lords of Ribeaupierre. As the Vosges lands,
sometimes Lorraine, administered by the Ribeaupierre, were
predominantly Roman-speaking, Ribeauvillé, a merchant town, benefits
from a vast mountain hinterland envied by other towns in the
Alsatian piedmont.
Once enlarged, it is a fortified city
marked by its four gates, giving rise to four districts. The
"promenade de Herrengarten" is a stigma of the presence of an
autonomous seigneurial administration, which paradoxically has never
been so strong and arrogant as under the first French presence in
Alsace.
The first masters and lords of Ribeaupierre before
1185 already had important links with the house of Lorraine, heir to
Gérard d'Alsace and the house of Dabo-Egisheim. They exercised
various delegated tasks of surveillance of roads and protection of
stubble and forests, mines and quarries under the ducal authority
and that of the Empire. This is why the second house of Ribeaupierre
appeared as soon as it was installed on the mountain bans, for
example in Orbey and in Hohnack, even across the mountain in the
upper valley of the Meurthe in Plainfaing or Fraize, in Saulcy,
ensuring the continuity of its function. from the first house.
Straddling two spaces, a large number of lords or sons of lords of
Ribeaupierre only reveals themselves as mountain war masters, often
resentful of higher authority and as heavily indebted, even
rebellious as the terrible Anselm or Bruno. Sometimes, to feed their
troops with loyal combatants, these warlords plunder or plunder
their town of Ribeauvillé.
Before modern times, the seigneury
of Hohnack belonging to the former Austria was assimilated to the
bailiwick of Orbey. This seigneury, centered on the castle of
Hohenack then on the town of Orbey, also includes the villages and
hamlets of Lapoutriche, Grand Trait, Fréland, Labaroche, Le
Bonhomme, Les Hautes-Huttes, Les Basses-Huttes, Hachimette, La
Cirouche and Ribeaugoutte. It was granted in 1500 by Emperor
Maximilian of Habsburg to Lords Smasmann and Bruno de Ribeaupierre.
At the same time, the Empire fiefdom of the
Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines valley was conspicuously structured in two
halves of bailiwick, that is to say a bailiwick half to the Duke of
Lorraine left bank and half to the Ribeaupierre and the Habsburg
emperors on the right bank. The counts of Ribeaupierre are reduced
to a statute of great ministerial of the Empire, and, to save their
small territorial principality, these bureaucrats intendants and
captains of war must associate with the Emperor, and restrict
themselves to finding interests only in Alsace. There are also the
lands of Heiteren, Wihr and Guémar, Zellenberg and Bergheim, apart
from Ribeauvillé and Thannenkirch.
The house of the Counts of
Ribeaupierre becomes, not without difficulty, Protestant, first
Lutheran then Calvinist, while keeping functions in the Holy Empire.
After the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the council of
anterior Austria was dismantled, and its Alsatian lordships passed
into fiefdom to the crown of France. Once recognized, the royal
house of France more than ever amicably consolidated the
Ribeaupierre in their principality, both mountainous and extended
from Piedmont to the Alsatian plain. Under the name of County of
Ribeaupierre, it asserted itself until the French Revolution.
Louis XIV, master of Alsace, very respectful of the rights of the
Alsatian or German princes, confers the county on the prince of
Birkenfeld. On the death of the latter prince, the Ducal House of
Deux-Ponts collects the inheritance, which then passes to the
Palatine and Electoral House of Bavaria.
After a cotton
manufacture, an important spinning mill was established in 1860. The
link with mountain communities, the source of its former prosperity,
withered away, in the absence of a technically possible railroad to
the mountains or efficient roads. On the contrary, for two decades
the city has suffered from competition from other Alsatian cities.
A little before 1880, the city which keeps its old cachet has
only 5,784 inhabitants. 1 km down the valley, at the end of a path
lined with poplars, the ruins of Notre-Dame-de-Tusenbach remain, a
former place of pilgrimage.