Ribeauvillé

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Not to be confused with Ribeauville, in the Aisne department.

Coordinates: 48°11′46″N 7°19′09″E / 48.1961111111, 7.31916666667

Commune of Ribeauvillé

Ribeauvillé and its castle
Location
Ribeauvillé (France)
Ribeauvillé
Administration
Country France
Region Alsace
Department Haut-Rhin
Arrondissement Ribeauvillé
Canton Ribeauvillé (chief town)
Intercommunality Communauté
de communes de
Ribeauvillé et environs
Mayor Jean-Louis Christ
(2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation 188 m–989 m
(avg. 240 m)
Land area¹ 32.21 km²
Population²
(1999)		 4,929
 - Density 153/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 68269/ 68150
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.
France

Ribeauvillé (Alsatian: Rappschwihr; German: Rappoltsweiler) is a town and commune in the Haut-Rhin département, in the French région of Alsace. Population (1999): 4,929 (Ribeauvillois and Ribeauvilloises).

The picturesque town is located around 10 miles north of Colmar and 75km south of Strasbourg.

Contents

[edit] History

Known in the 8th century as Rathaldovilare, the town passed from the bishops of Basel to the lords of Rappoltstein, who were among the most famous nobles in Alsace. The lord of Rappoltstein was the king or protector of the wandering minstrels of the land, who purchased his protection by paying him a tax.

When the family became extinct in 1673, this office of "king of the pipers" (Pfeiferkönig) passed to the counts palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. The minstrels had a pilgrimage chapel near Rappoltsweiler, dedicated to their patron saint, Maria von Dusenbach, and here they held an annual feast on September 8. Ribeauvillé was commonly known as Rappoltsweiler until the 19th century.

[edit] Sights

Ribeauvillé is in part surrounded by ancient walls, and has many picturesque medieval houses, and two old churches, of St Gregory and St Augustine, both fine Gothic buildings. The town hall contains a valuable collection of antiquities. The Carolabad, a saline spring with a temperature of 64 F., which had a great repute in the middle ages, was rediscovered in 1888, and made Rappoltsweiler a watering-place.

Near the town are the ruins of three famous castles, Ulrichsburg, Girsberg and Hohrappoltstein, which formerly belonged to the lords of Rappoltstein.

[edit] People

[edit] External links

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