WISSEMBOURG, 60km north of Strasbourg and right on the German border, is a small town of cobbled and higgledy-piggledy prettiness, largely given over to moneyed German weekenders. If you are looking for a Wissembourg hotel, visit this website. The townspeople have a curious linguistic anomaly; they speak an ancient dialect derived from Frankish, unlike their fellow Alsatians whose language is closer to modern German.At the end of rue Nationale, the town's main commercial street, stands the imposing Gothic church of St-Paul-et-St-Pierre, with a Romanesque belfry and some fine twelfth- and thirteenth-century stained glass, once attached to the town's abbey. Beneath the apse, the meandering River Lauter flows under the Pont du Sel beside the town's most striking secular building and first hospital, the Maison du Sel (1450), in a part of town dubbed la Petite Venise (Little Venice). A few minutes' walk away, on the northern edge of town, another fine old building, with beautifully carved woodwork round its windows, contains the town's folk museum, the Musée Westercamp, 3 rue du Musée (Mon, Wed & Thurs 2–6pm, Fri & Sat 9am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun & hols 10am–noon & 2–6pm; closed Jan & Feb; €2.50). Along the southern edge of town, following the riverbank from the Tour des Husgenossen in the western corner, a long section of the medieval walls survives intact, built – like the houses – in the local red sandstone.
Pages in section ‘Wissembourg’: The Poles of Wissembourg, Practicalities.
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