Birkenwald
Birch forest is a municipality with 287 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Bas- Rhin in Alsace region of France. She is a member of the Communauté de communes de la Sommerau.
Birch forest is located on the edge of the North Vosges. The neighboring municipalities are Dimbsthal and Salenthal in the northeast, Allenwiller in the east, cheek -Engenthal the southeast and Hengwiller in the northwest. In the south the village road is bordered by a forest.
Castle birch forest
In the center is the birch forest castle. The foundation walls were built around 800. By a letter dated 17 February 893 the Empress Richarde, the founder of the Abbey Andlau, this pen had ceded certain heritages that they had reserved in the Vosges, most notably birch forest or much more Bürckwald, as it was then. The abbesses of Andlau leaving Bürckwald Knights of the country as a fief. 1562 Nicholas Jacob built by Inge home the castle in its present form. The date of reconstruction is still clearly on a goal to read on the north side. The castle then passed through many hands, even by those French nobleman, who added her surname to " birch forest " long before officially owned the Alsace to France. The castle was after the French Revolution some years a member of the family Grimaldi -Monaco, the aide of Napoleon, as well as a member of the family of Dortal. In his youth, Charles de Foucauld spent, who was related to the then owners, often his holidays in the castle. Today the castle is privately owned.
The coat of arms whose " birch forest " has the following form:
Blue with a silver angle, the top of the shield has two golden pine cones, the tilt of a common stalk starting, on both sides, and a bottom border on Golden Bears. Above the shield a coronet.
The plot of the children's book The golden bracelet by Serge Dalens plays for the most part in the birch forest castle. The book was a bestseller with millions of copies and led today many readers to visit the birch forest castle.
Other Buildings
- The village school and the local government are housed in the same building.
- Chapel of Our Lady
- Church of Saint -Louis