Eguisheim circular village
Famed circular medieval village, member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France.
History
The castle in the square passed for Pope Leo IX's birthplace. The heritage inventory dates it to the first third of the 13th century.
The castle at the centre of the village was long dated to the 11th or 12th century, on the strength of texts that in fact concerned the castle of Haut-Eguisheim, and it passed for the place where Pope Saint Leo IX was born. Its octagonal plan, with a central keep of the same shape, and the mason's marks on its bossed stones date it to the first third of the 13th century. Built by the counts of Eguisheim, it passed to the bishop of Strasbourg in the 13th century, and an episcopal bailiff occupied it until the French Revolution. In the 18th century its moat was already filled in, and houses had been built in the courtyard and on the enclosure wall.
Source: pop.culture.gouv.fr · checked 16 October 2026
A fragment of Saint Leo's skull was given to Eguisheim's parish in 1880.
In 1880 a fragment of the skull of Saint Leo, from the church of Bouxwiller, which had it from the abbey of Lucelle, was given to the parish of Eguisheim. Its reliquary was made by the Paris goldsmith A. Chertier in 1881 and moved into the Chapelle Saint-Léon in 1894.
Source: pop.culture.gouv.fr · checked 16 October 2026
From the route
Leaves the route in Eguisheim on day 4; 0.5 km one-way with 10 m of climbing on paved road.