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Origin and history

The Truttenhausen Abbey, located west of Heiligenstein and partly on Obernai, was founded around 1186 by the abbesse Herrade de Landsberg, already in charge of the Hohenbourg convent (Mont Sainte-Odile). His goal was to welcome pilgrims and to provide religious services, in collaboration with the Premonstrates of St.Gorgon. She included a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a convent church, a hospice, a hospital and a farm. Today, only 12th century columns and remains of the church rebuilt in 1467 remain.

The administration of the abbey was entrusted to the Augustinians of Marbach, with a community of twelve members, two of whom operated in alternation with the Premonstrated. Herrade de Landsberg supervised the construction of the buildings between 1186 and 1190, creating a religious and charitable centre on the pilgrims' road. The abbey grew until the 15th century, before being devastated by wars and fires in the 15th and 16th centuries. The religious finally left the site in 1555 after repeated looting.

In 1467, prior Jean Tulmann undertook the reconstruction of the church, completed in 1490, of which today only the tower and the walls of the nave remain. The abbey was looted in 1525 during the Peasants' War, then destroyed by the Armagnacs in the following century. Its ruins, acquired in 1648 by the Landsberg family, have belonged since 1800 to the Turckheim family, which ensures its preservation. The site, surrounded by an English garden, has been partially listed as a historic monument since 1984.

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