Wissembourg: History between the Vosges and vineyards

Wissembourg lies at the foot of the Vosges, between vineyards and forests. The Alsatian town is known as a gateway to France and to the Vosges du Nord Regional Nature Park. Historic buildings and a variety of routes shape the range of themes for a stay: you can focus on the town centre and its medieval lanes, the fortifications, or the churches and museum.

Walking routes through the centre and fortifications

A historic discovery trail of about five kilometres runs through the centre of Wissembourg and its medieval lanes. It takes a little over an hour. The town’s discovery routes are marked with signposts and information boards in French, German and English. This makes it easy to distinguish the trail, with its stated duration, from other routes that follow different themes.

The fortifications form a green belt with walking areas and a fitness trail. Within the fortifications, this trail includes 13 stations over a little more than one kilometre. The shaded Par’Coeur santé walking trail also runs along the Lauter and the fortifications, covering 1.9 kilometres. It is suitable for wheelchair users and families with pushchairs. While the historic trail leads through the centre and medieval lanes, Par’Coeur santé follows a different route and is explicitly designated as suitable for wheelchair users and families with pushchairs.

Building history at the town hall, churches and fortifications

Wissembourg’s town hall was built from red sandstone between 1741 and 1752. Since 1933, the fortifications have been protected under an additional listing on the French register of historic monuments. Thus, both a town hall with a known construction date and the protected fortifications are among the town’s historic highlights.

The Abbey Church of Saints-Pierre-et-Paul is the second-largest Gothic church in Alsace, after Strasbourg Cathedral. Most of the building dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. At the same time, the west tower and the chapel adjoining the cloister preserve Romanesque remains from the 11th century. These different building phases make the church a distinctive point of reference for Wissembourg’s architectural history.

Another church with a notable historic feature is Saint-Jean-l’Évangéliste: medieval wall paintings can be seen on the upper floor of the sacristy. The town’s cultural services are housed in the former Dominican convent church, built at the end of the 13th century.

The Westercamp Museum and its collections

The Westercamp Museum is Wissembourg’s municipal museum and bears the French designation “Musée de France.” Its multidisciplinary collections cover local history, archaeology, art and folk traditions, bourgeois furnishings, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The themes range from regional history and archaeological finds to art and everyday culture.

Among the most important items in the collections are lithographs from Wissembourg by the printer Wentzel, bourgeois furnishings from the 17th to 19th centuries, and archaeological material from the Wissembourg region. For a stay focused on cultural history, these collections complement the architectural history of the churches and town hall with local and regional themes.

Wissembourg as a travel destination

The landscape between the Vosges, vineyards and forests provides a setting for a town whose walking routes and cultural sites appeal to a range of interests. Those planning walks can choose a historic trail through the centre, as well as routes around the fortifications and along the Lauter. Those with a particular interest in architecture and history can explore the town hall, abbey church, wall paintings and the wide-ranging collections of the Westercamp Museum as separate highlights.

Discover more destinations: Brumath, Bilwisheim, Obermodern-Zutzendorf, Wildersbach, Petersbach, Climbach, Gries, Ottersthal.

Go to the regional travel overview: Bas-Rhin.