Brightwells

This quiet region of densely forested hills, small streams and rivers and rocky outcrops is very beautiful and well worth exploring – Neuwiller-les-Saverne is to the south-west of the park and Lembach to the north-east. To the south of the region lies the city of Mulhouse and the rural land of the Sundgau, which reaches the Swiss border in the Jura mountains. The Alsace region is located in north-eastern France and is famous for its wine, its colourful half-timbered houses and its castles, which sit enthroned on the summits of the Vosges mountains. Colmar is the principal centre of the wine-growing region, whose vineyards extend in a narrow strip along the lower slopes of the Vosges west of the city. The massif of the Vosges gradually gives way eastward to the plain of Alsace, while to the south the region of Sundgau in southern Haut-Rhin rises to the Jura Mountains.

Voyage médiéval : sur les traces des chevaliers

They maintained their own customs, Yiddish language, and historic traditions within the tightly knit ghettos; they adhered to Jewish law. By 1790, the Jewish population of Alsace was approximately 22,500, about 3% of the provincial population. The population grew rapidly, from 800,000 in 1814 to 914,000 in 1830 and 1,067,000 in 1846. This had grave effects on trade and the economy of the region since former overland trade routes were switched to newly opened Mediterranean and Atlantic seaports. At the same time, some Alsatians were in opposition to the Jacobins and sympathetic to the restoration of the monarchy pursued by the invading forces of Austria and Prussia who sought to crush the nascent revolutionary republic.

The climate of the Alsace region

After 1918, French was the only language used in schools, particularly primary schools. French lost ground to such an extent that it has been estimated that only 2% of the population spoke French fluently, and only 8% had some knowledge of it (Maugue, 1970). Between 1870 and 1918, Alsace was annexed by the German Empire in the form of an imperial province or Reichsland, and the mandatory official language, especially in schools, became High German. The French language never really managed, however, to win over the masses, the vast majority of whom continued to speak their German dialects and write in German (which we would now call "standard German").citation needed From the annexation of Alsace by France in the 17th century and the language policy of the French Revolution up to 1870, knowledge of French in Alsace increased considerably. During the Lutheran Reform, the towns of Alsace were the first to adopt the German language as their official language instead of Latin.

• White storks are one of the region’s most beloved symbols, and for many centuries, they return every year from Africa to announce the coming of spring in France.
• Alsace is also well known for its foie gras made in the region since the 17th century.
• During the next century, France was to be militarily shattered by the Hundred Years’ War, which prevented for a time any further tendencies in this direction.
• However, visitors to Alsace can see indications of renewed political and cultural interest in the language – in Alsatian signs appearing on hoardings and in car windows, as well as in new official bilingual street signs in Strasbourg and Mulhouse.
• Increasingly, French is the only language used at home and at work, and a growing number of people have a good knowledge of standard German as a foreign language learned in school.
• The traditional language of the région is Alsatian, an Alemannic dialect of Upper German spoken on both sides of the Rhine and closely related to Swiss German.

What you need to know about the Alsace Region

French government institutions employ a variety of means to prevent the German-speaking Alsatians from publishing media in their native language. However, the Constitution of France still requires that French be the only official language of the Republic. Today, the territory is in certain areas subject to some laws that are significantly different from the rest of France, which is known as the local law. During the war, 130,000 young men from Alsace and Lorraine were conscripted into the German armies against their will (malgré-nous). In order not to antagonize the Alsatians, the region was not subjected to some legal changes that had occurred in the rest of France between 1871 and 1919, such as the 1905 French law on the separation of Church and State. With the arrival of the French soldiers, many Alsatians and local Prussian/German administrators and bureaucrats cheered the re-establishment of order.

• Several cities and villages along the Alsace Wine Route have since become famous and attract a very large crowd of visitors during the summer months and Christmas.
• At present, plans are being considered for building a new dual carriageway west of Strasbourg, which would reduce the buildup of traffic in that area by picking up north and southbound vehicles and getting rid of the buildup outside Strasbourg.
• However, because of its small size compared to the average French region, Alsace ranks 20th for the number of tourists who spend at least one night in the region (11.7 million in 2011).
• Few young people speak Alsatian today, although there do still exist one or two enclaves in the Sundgau region where some older inhabitants cannot speak French, and where Alsatian is still used as the mother tongue.
• The Alsace region is divided into two French ‘departments’ with Bas-Rhin to the north and including Strasbourg and Haut-Rhin to the south and including Colmar.
• For more than 300 years, from the Thirty Years’ War to World War II, the political status of Alsace was heavily contested between France and various German states in wars and diplomatic conferences.

Alsace, a unique journey… just like you!

The friendly white storks, the iconic emblem of Alsace, are found in large numbers throughout the region. Protected in Italy since 1976, the grey wolf has since entered France through the Maritime Alps. There is now a population of about 900 chamois in the Vosges, particularly in the high ridges of the valley of Munster above 800 metres. From Colmar, next to the foothills and at the base of the Vosges mountains, clouds arriving from the West are forced to rise and fall as precipitation over the high summits, hence protecting the lower area from rain. The topography of Alsace, the Vosges and the Black Forest in Germany all play a major role in the local climate. In the South-West, the Gate of Burgundy opens Alsace to Franche-Comté, while the crest of the Vosges mountains serves as a natural border with Lorraine.

The Alsace region’s touristic appeal is closely linked to its rich history. The Alsace region is also known for the richness of its gastronomy. The Alsace vineyards extend across the hills of the Vosges at between 200 and 400 metres high, over some 14,000 hectares of grapevines which produce an average of 150 million bottles of wine.
The traditional language of the région is Alsatian, an Alemannic dialect of Upper German spoken on both slotrize casino no deposit bonus sides of the Rhine and closely related to Swiss German. Although German dialects were spoken in Alsace for most of its history, the dominant language in Alsace today is French. With the purpose of "Francizing" the region, the Rot-un-Wiss has not been recognized by Paris. As it underlines the Germanic roots of the region, it was replaced in 1949 by a new "Union jack-like" flag representing the union of the two départements. The authentic historical flag is the Rot-un-Wiss; Red and White are commonly found on the coat of arms of Alsatian cities (Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Sélestat…) and of many Swiss cities, especially in Basel's region.

Alsace’s main cities

Following the Protestant Reformation, promoted by the local reformer Martin Bucer, the principle of cuius regio, eius religio led to a certain amount of religious diversity in the highlands of northern Alsace. The divergence in policy from the French majority is because the region was part of Imperial Germany when the 1905 law separating the French church and state was instituted (for a more comprehensive history, see Alsace–Lorraine). Alsace is generally seen as the most religious of all the French regions. But by the 2010s, Alsace had entered a new period of slow demographic growth, though the Strasbourg area had become one of France's fastest growing regions.