Fessenheim

Fessenheim, mentioned as early as the 8th century, is probably one of the oldest Alsatian villages linked to the possessions of the Habsburgs. In 1180, it reappears in the archives and becomes a fief contested by several noble families, including the Waldner, Ratterdorf, and Andlau, before passing into the hands of Chancellor Conrad Sturtzel and then the Truchsess of Wolhausen in the 15th century. In 1622, it became the property of the Falkenstein family before being purchased by the Teutonic Order in 1690. Louis XIV temporarily confiscated it, but after a long trial against the royal lender Klinglin, the Teutonic Order retained possession until the French Revolution. Other families, such as the Reinach and the Dominicans, also owned property there. During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, Fessenheim served as a stopover for troops and smugglers. The village houses several remarkable monuments: the Sainte-Colombe church (1775), a Merovingian sarcophagus, a 16th-century farm, the Schelcher forge (1912), the Schœlcher house converted into the Hardt museum (19th century), a calvary (1808), a hydroelectric plant (1956), the large lock gates of the Grand Canal of Alsace, the House of Energies, the Firefighter Museum, as well as a cemetery and a Memorial Avenue with old tombstones.