Wissembourg: Guide

Wissembourg (commune situated on the little River département. The name Wissembourg is merely a Frenchified version of Weißenburg(Weissenburg) in German meaning, "white hill/white town", or "white place".

History

The Otfried composed a Diatessaron|gospel harmony, the first substantial work of verse in German language|German.

In 1354 Stanislas Leczinski, ex-king of Poland, from 1719 to 1725, when the formal request arrived, April 3, 1725 asking for the hand of his daughter in marriage to Louis XV of France|Louis XV.

Wissembourg formed the setting for the Romantic novel L’ami Fritz (1869) co-written by the team of Erckmann and Chatrian, which provided the material for Pietro Mascagni|Mascagni's opera L'Amico Fritz.

The Battle of Wissembourg took place on August 4, 1870. It was the first battle of the Franco-Prussian War. The Prussians were nominally commanded by the Crown Prince Frederick, but ably directed by his Chief of Staff, General Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal. The France|French defeat allowed the Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian army to move into France. The Geisburg monument commemorates the event.

Sights

The picturesque town is set in a landscape of rolling wheatfields retains its Augustinian convent (1279); the Church of Saint Jean, Church of Saint Ulrich Its Grenier aux Dîmes (tithe barn) belonging to the Abbey is 18th century but an ancient foundation.

External link

(in French)

This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Wissembourg". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.