Mont Ste Odile

Mont Ste Odile (763 m/2,503ft) is one of the high spots of a visit to the Vosges. This wooded ridge is surrounded by a prehistoric defensive wall some 10km/6mi in extent known as the Mur Païen (Heathens' Wall). In places the wall, 2m/6.5ft thick, still stands to a height of 2-3m/6.5-10ft; the stones were originally bonded together with oak dowels. On the summit of the hill, once occupied by a Roman fort, is the famous convent of Ste Odile, originally founded towards the end of the seventh C. on the site of a castle belonging to Attich, Duke of Alsace, by his daughter Odilia (Odile). The original convent was destroyed by the Huns.

The heyday of the convent was in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1546 it was destroyed by fire and abandoned by the nuns, but was later reoccupied and rebuilt by Premonstratensian canons. In the mid 19th C. the bishop of Strasbourg revived the pilgrimage to the shrine of St Odile, which is now visited by countless pilgrims. In the church (rebuilt in the 17th C.) is the tomb of the foundress (d. 720), who according to her legend was born blind and gained her sight when she was baptized.

From the terrace there is a magnificent view, and there are even wider views from the Männelstein (823m/2,700ft), to the southeast, the highest point on Mont Ste-Odile. Near the convent are the Chemin de Croix (Stations of the Cross), the Fontaine Ste-Odile (to the south, on the road to St-Nabor) and the ruins of the convent church consecrated in 1180 (to the east, at the foot of the steep hillside).