Riquewihr old town & Thieves' Tower

In 1291 the Count of Horbourg had the village ringed with walls and ditches to protect people and goods, and from then on Riquewihr ranked as a town. The Dolder dates from that first wall — 25 metres high, at once gate, watchtower and belfry. Its stark, warlike outer face threatened the enemy; its inner face, towards the town, has delighted residents since the 16th century with its timbering and four jettied storeys. Around 1500, as firearms spread, the Duke of Württemberg built a second rampart of Vosges sandstone to protect the inhabitants and the produce of their vines; the wooden portcullis in the Porte Haute, dated 1536, is — the town says — probably the oldest in Europe.

Source: riquewihr.fr · checked 15 October 2026

Under the counts of Württemberg-Montbéliard, Riquewihr was the capital of their lands west of the Rhine, and its wine was exported across the Empire and to the Hanseatic countries; the remarkable houses date mostly from the 16th century. In 1635, during the Thirty Years' War, and again in 1652, the town was besieged, taken and pillaged by the Duke of Lorraine's troops. Famine and epidemics did the rest, and the town struggled to recover.

Source: riquewihr.fr · checked 15 October 2026

The counts of Württemberg bought the lordship of Riquewihr in 1324. Louis XIV's emissaries took possession of the town in 1680, but it remained subject to the laws of the Empire and the orders of the Württembergs. After the Revolution it was definitively joined to France by the Treaty of Paris in 1796. In the last war, while several neighbouring localities were entirely destroyed, Riquewihr was spared and only lightly damaged, despite the front nearby during the Colmar Pocket, December 1944 to February 1945. With two million visitors a year, it has earned the title "Pearl of the Vineyard."

Source: riquewihr.fr · checked 15 October 2026