Marlenheim

Marlenheim is located at the northern entrance to the Alsace Wine Route. Recent excavations have uncovered remains dating from 5000 BC to Roman times. The site is first mentioned in Gregory of Tours? Historia Francorum. Although no material remains from this period, the first mention of vine cultivation in Alsace appears in this text. The Carolingians also stayed here, and legend has it that Richarde, patron saint of the parish church, underwent a trial by fire to prove her innocence in the face of accusations of adultery by her husband, the Emperor Charles le Gros.
The old town retains the appearance of an ancient Roman camp from the first centuries AD. The fish-bone road network gives a certain urban coherence to what was for a long time just a large village. The Kronthal is famous for supplying the cathedral with sandstone.
From these turbulent times, Marlenheim has preserved a rich architectural heritage: Renaissance turret houses, wealthy bourgeois homes, prosperous farms, 18th-century town hall and château (former seat of the bailliage), chapel and Way of the Cross. The commune's reputation as a winegrower is also noteworthy. In 1953, it was chosen as the gateway to the Alsace Wine Route, inaugurated by Pierre Pflimlin, then Minister of Finance and personal friend of former mayor Rodolphe Klein.