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Origin and history

The pagan wall of Mount Sainte-Odile is an 11 km long enclosure, consisting of approximately 300,000 blocks of cyclopean sandstone, reaching 1.80 m wide and 3 m high. Located on the tops of the Bloss, Hohenbourg and Elsberg mountains, it surrounds the plateau where the Abbey of Hohenbourg was founded in the 7th century by Saint Odile. Its layout defines an area that has sheltered populations, cults or defences, although its exact function (refugee, sacred enclosure or fortification) remains uncertain.

The dating of the wall is subject to archaeological controversy. Excavations from the 1970s suggested a Celtic origin (Bronze Age or La Tene Period), with repairs in the fourth century. In 1995, the discovery of Roman coins (an antonin of 269–270 and a denier of Elagabal around 220) under the north transverse wall revived the hypothesis of a Roman construction. However, dendrochronological analyses of oak tenues (2001–2015) dated its construction or restoration between 675 and 681, favoring a Merovingian origin.

The wall is mentioned for the first time in the Vita Otiliae (circa 950), where the monks of Saint Gallen evoke "high enclosures" (Hoenburc) attributed to a Marcellin king (unattested historically). In 1050, Pope Leo IX confirmed in a bubble his belonging to the abbey, prohibiting any exploitation of the plateau without permission. The construction techniques (blocks bound by dovetailed tenors) and the absence of mortar recall other Alsatian walls, such as that of Frankenburg, whose dating (gallo-Roman or merovingian) is also discussed.

Ranked as a historical monument in 1840 and a national archaeological site in 1987, the wall has undergone damage (medieval careers, vandalism, wild excavations). Restoration campaigns have been carried out since 1990 with appropriate techniques (laying dry stones, fixing by stainless steel rods) to preserve its original appearance. Recent excavations (1991–2022) have refined knowledge, but have not settled definitively between Celtic, Roman or Merovingian hypotheses.

The site is now managed in partnership with the State, the Greater East Region and local associations (Friends of Mount Sainte-Odile). It illustrates the challenges of conserving a monument whose history spans more than two millennia, between legends, religious issues (Merovingian Abbey) and scientific debates. Its conservation status varies depending on the stretch, some of which have been used as a quarry or damaged by vegetation.

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