Monuments to visit Haut-Rhin

This emblematic house for its architecture and its frescoes dates from the ^16th century. It owes its name to the family that occupied it from 1841 to 1892. With a turret, a wooden gallery and biblical paintings, it leaves people speechless when they come to admire it. The first floor is a store and the upper floors are not open to the public. But no matter, Christian Vacksterffer, the painter, offers us a visual beauty of several centuries, right before our eyes. It's like being in a movie set!

The Koifhus is the oldest building in Colmar (1480). Originally surrounded by a salt store and a large butcher shop, it was part of the economic life of Colmar. On the first floor, it housed the city's administrative services and the court, while the first floor housed warehouses and customs services. On the second floor, admire the magnificent stained glass windows decorated with the arms of the cities of the Decapolis: this powerful league united, from 1354 to 1679, ten free Alsatian cities within the Holy Roman Empire.

Inaugurated in 1865, this hall made of brick, iron and cast iron is the work of the architect Louis-Michel Boltz. A market was held there, hence its position on the banks of the Lauch River, making it easier for market gardeners to unload their produce from their boats. In the south-western corner of the building, a fountain sculpted by Auguste Bartholdi in 1869 depicts a young winegrower drinking from a barrel. Since 2010, the Covered Market has been home to around twenty traders: butcher, baker, cheese maker, fishmonger, greengrocers, pastry chef, caterers, florist...

"Of all the diamonds in the French crown, the most beautiful is the fortress of the Rhine". Thus spoke Louis XIV of the Place Forte de Neuf-Brisach, a masterpiece of military architecture that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. In the 18th century, Vauban set out to protect the Rhine crossing by creating a perfect octagon with eight bastions, within which the streets intersect at right angles and are organised in a checkerboard pattern. It is a unique site!

Little calves, don't do it, it's going up! It is by the rue du Château that you will reach the rocky outcrop. The lower castle contains the base of an 11th century keep, surrounded by an enclosure flanked by three towers, opened and built in 1488. To reach the upper castle, a tower dating from the 12th century, you have to go on a very steep path following a ramp cut into the rock. From the wooden platform, the view of the Vosges, the Rhine and Ill valleys, the Black Forest and the Jura heights is breathtaking.