Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée de la Maison des Rochers de Graufthal is located in the hamlet of Graufthal, on the town of Eschbourg (Bas-Rhin). These are three semi-troglodytic dwellings dug in a pink sandstone cliff, occupied until 1958. These houses, restored and furnished to evoke their history and local legends, were inscribed in historical monuments on December 20, 1988. Today, they are maintained by an association and open to the public, offering a unique testimony of Alsatian troglodytic habitat.

According to archaeologists Robert Forrer and Charles Spindler, the first Graufthal caves were built in the Middle Ages, serving first as attices. They were transformed into precarious dwellings in the 17th century and then into permanent dwellings in the 18th century, as evidenced by a door dated 1760. These houses housed modest families, whose living conditions remained basic until the 20th century.

In the 20th century, three families lived there: Weber, Wagner and Ottermann. The Wagner family left after Josephine Wagner's death. In 1931, the floor of Weber's house collapsed, resulting in the death of its owner shortly after. The sisters Ottermann, Madeleine and Catherine (known as Felsekaeth, "Cathy of the Rocks" in Alsatian) were the last occupying sisters. Madeleine died in 1947 at 89, and Catherine, the last resident, died in 1958. She said that her house had sometimes housed up to eighteen people, sharing a common kitchen between two housing units.

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