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Origin and history

The house located in the 2nd place of the Old Hospital in Ribeauvillé is a narrow and elongated building, built in the 2nd quarter of the 16th century (1542) and rebuilt in the 2nd quarter of the 18th century (1739). Its narrow facade, decorated with harped corner chains and carved plates, dominates the square. An inscription of 1542 indicates its foundation as a hospice for the poor, under the impulse of the bourgeois of the city and the local lord. The building initially housed needy, including pilgrims, and depended on the Catholic community, distinct from the Protestant hospice.

The medieval hospital, attested from the fourteenth century, was run by a Spitalmeister (master of the hospice) under the control of the Ribeauvillé Magistrate. A nearby chapel, studied separately, completed this charitable ensemble. In 1739, a total reconstruction was attested by a second inscription, stating: "This Spital was entirely rebuilt on its ancestral site". The site was sold to private individuals in 1830 after the transfer of hospital activities to a new building, which had now disappeared.

Architecturally, the house features a rumped roof, rectangular windows, and a basement arch allowing the passage of Stadtbach Creek. The inscriptions of 1542 and 1739, embedded in the façade, have been protected since 1932 as historical monuments. The back pantry and an outbuilding at the bottom of the plot (destroyed) once completed the whole. The building illustrates the evolution of charitable structures in Alsace, between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

The management of the hospice reflected Ribeauvillé's religious divisions: Catholics and Protestants maintained separate institutions. The 1542 text emphasizes the objective "of honoring God and exercising Christian charity", while the tasker mark on the inscription of 1739 evokes local artisans. After 1967, the site lost its hospital vocation to become a private home, however retaining its remarkable heritage elements.

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