The Knights' Tower

This square-plan tower, built of bricks around 1235, features a vaulted passage with a broken barrel vault. It is one of the rare remnants of 13th-century urban military architecture in Alsace. Integrated into the city's second wall, it housed a bell tower used to sound the alarm in case of threat. After the third wall was built, the tower lost its original function and was converted into a powder magazine. From 1763 until 1918, it served as a district prison. The lighting slits, facing inward toward the city, are fitted with bars, evidence of this period. An adjoining house, dated 1763, provided access to the tower's dungeons. In 1920, a transverse passage was added to the existing one. Its name, Knights' Tower, does not refer to medieval warriors but to the Ritter family, meaning "knight" in Alsatian, who lived nearby.