Kaysersberg - One of the Most Beautiful French Villages - Alsace with its Impressive Architecture

Kaysersberg is a former French commune located in the department of Haut‑Rhin, in the Grand Est region. This small town, situated in the historical and cultural region of Alsace, became a delegated municipality of the new municipality of Kaysersberg Vignoble on January 1 2016. Its inhabitants are called Kaysersbergeois and Kaysersbergeoises. The village was voted France’s favorite village at the end of the France 2 program presented by Stéphane Bern, competing against twelve other exceptional municipalities. The Kaysersberg valley’s identity is shaped by its unique history, reflecting a region crossed by the tumults of history and various cultural, religious, and architectural movements. Travelers find a syncretic richness in the valley, with Romanesque churches, stone fortifications, cobbled streets, half‑timbered houses, places of meditation, and frescoes by Maurice Denis, all testifying to a past that has left its mark. Historically, the valley’s strategic position allowed control of transit between Haute Alsace and Lorraine via the Col du Bonhomme, leading to occupation by soldiers since Roman times. Around 1218, a fortress was built, marking the beginning of a prosperous period under the Hohenstaufen family, and Kaysersberg became an imperial city of the Holy Empire in 1293. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the city prospered thanks to privileges such as a weekly market and an annual fair, and it joined the Decapolis, a mutual alliance of ten cities in Alsace. Wine production thrived and was exported throughout the Empire. The 17th century brought hardship after the Thirty Years’ War, but the city returned to prosperity later that century. In the 19th century, textile industries settled in the region, and the 20th century saw the city partially destroyed by the Second World War.