Rouffach

Rouffach
Rouffach
Location within Alsace region  Rouffach
Administration
Country	France
Region	Alsace
Department	Haut-Rhin
Arrondissement	Guebwiller
Canton	Rouffach
Intercommunality	Pays de Rouffach
Mayor	Jean-Pierre Toucas (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	195–980 m (640–3,220 ft) (avg. 210 m or 690 ft)
Land area1	40.05 km2 (15.46 sq mi)
Population2	4,865  (2006)
- Density	121 /km2 (310 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	68287/ 68250
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 47°57′30″N 7°17′54″E / 47.9583°N 7.2983°E / 47.9583; 7.2983

Rouffach (German and Alsatian: Rufach) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.

Rouffach lies along the Alsatian wine route (Route des Vins d'Alsace). Its vineyards produce one of the finest Alsatian wines: the Grand Cru Vorbourg (fr).

An ecological and organic food fair takes place annually in the town, dealing mainly with bread, wine and cheese.

Geography

Rouffach is situated on the Lauch River, 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Colmar and 28 km (17 mi) north of Mulhouse, on the vineyards of the eastern foothills of the Vosges Mountains. The most important transportation routes between the towns are the N83 (Lyon–Strasbourg) and the railway line Strasbourg-Mulhouse-Basel.

Etymology

Rubiaco 7th c., Rubiacum 12th c., Rufiacum 13th c.

Gallo-roman male's name Rubbius or Rubius ending with Celtic suffix -āko > -acum (cf. Welsh -og).

Similar place-names in France : Royat (Rubiacum 1147), Robiac (Robiaco 1119).

History

View of Rouffach & Isenburg according to Frans Hogenberg (about 1570)

In the 5th century, the city was a residence of the Merovingian kings. According to legend, the son of King Dagobert II gave the city to the Archbishop of Strasbourg in the 7th century, after the archbishop had re-awakened him from death. It finally became the main town of an episocopal fief, which also included Eguisheim. The city quickly developed and a wall was built around it.

The golden age ended abruptly with the Thirty Years' War, when the town was devastated by the Swedes. At the end of the war, when Alsace was conquered by France, the fief was abolished. The city again achieved prosperity, chiefly due to wine growing, and because it was spared during the following wars.

During the time of nazi annexation, a Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt (National Political Institute of Education, NEPA, popularly known as Napola) was housed in a former sanatorium of the city (as of October 1940).

A light tank of the 12th Armored Division in Rouffach, 5 Feb. 1944

Sightseeing

South side of Notre Dame

Witch tower with stork's nest

Isenbourg castle

Rouffach is a station on the Romanesque Route of Alsace (Route Romane d'Alsace).

• The Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Church of yellow sandstone was built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The transept is from the 2nd half of the 11th century, the Gothic nave is from the 12th and 13th centuries, with Romanesque side portals. Construction on the building continued until 1508; the double steeple facade was never completed. The northern steeple is 56 m high, the southern steeple is only 42 m high. The tip of the crossing steeple reaches a height of 68 m. The building suffered severe damage during the French Revolution and appears relatively plain today. The voluminous structure of the church and the existence of several medieval styles of construction are all the more apparent to the observer, though. The rose window in the facade (14th century) is one of the most ambitiously designed in Alsace.
• The church (monastery) of the Franciscans was built at the end of the 15th century.
• Numerous buildings from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (old city hall, old granary) still give the city a medieval character.
• The Witch Tower, built in the 13th to the 15th centuries, served as a prison.
• The castle of Isenbourg, residence of King Dagobert II and his son Sigbert, and later the Strasbourg bishop also, no longer remains. Today, a luxury hotel is housed in a reconstruction from the nineteenth century.
• The Établissement public local d’enseignement agricole de Rouffach is a secondary school for technology, agriculture and wine growing.

Partner towns

Since 1964, Rouffach has been a partner of the German city of Bönnigheim in Baden-Württemberg.

Notable people

Born in Rouffach:

• Konrad Pelikan, 1478–1556, reformer and theologian
• Valentin Boltz, 1515–1560, theologian and author
• Conrad Lycosthenes (1518–1561), Humanist and encyclopedist
• François Joseph Lefebvre (1755–1820), French Revolutionary general and marshall of France

Resident in Rouffach:

• Sebastian Münster, Humanist, was a student of Konrad Pelikan in Rouffach from 1509 to 1511

See also

• Communes of the Haut-Rhin department

References

• INSEE

External links

• The city in pictures (French)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rouffach

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