At the crossroads of the upper Ill valley and the roads leading from Altkirch to Ferrette, Hirsingue is the canton's largest commune, ahead of Hitzbach, Waldighoffen and Pfetterhouse. Initially a town hall of the Altkirch seigneury, the village became part of the Montjoie in 1336. At the beginning of the 18th century, Louis XIV created the Montjoie county with, among others, Ruederbach, Heimersdorf and Hirsingue, which has been the administrative center of the canton since 1795. The Hirsingue sanctuary, dedicated to St. John the Baptist in 1774, was designed by architect Gabriel Ignace Ritter. It features fine Baroque furnishings and altar paintings by Kau and Hauwiller. Next to the church is the chapel that served as the burial ground for the Counts of Montjoie. On the left, in the rue du château, are the outbuildings of the former Montjoie residence. It was a grandiose château, rebuilt in 1742 by Bagnato, with a chapel, a room displaying collections of armor and medals, a 30,000-volume library, a huge, richly-stocked cellar, a labyrinth garden and an underground passageway. At the start of the French Revolution, the château was pillaged, ransacked, sold as national property and demolished. The lord of the manor saved himself by escaping through an underground passage. At the end of the village, in the wide Ill valley, an oratory reminiscent of the ancient Saint-Martin church can be seen on the left, on the other side of the river. Demolished before the 19th century, it was surrounded by the houses of Bettendorf, before the village moved to higher ground.
