Château de la Montagne Sainte-Odile

Mont Sainte-Odile is a wooded mountain of about 760 metres on the eastern edge of the Vosges, above the Alsace plain near Obernai, and it is the spiritual home of Alsace. A convent stands on the summit, and its terrace looks out across the plain to the Rhine and the Black Forest in Germany, a view that is one of the finest in Alsace. The name of the place comes from Odile, the patron saint of the region, who is said to have lived and died here, and the convent remains an active monastery and one of the most important places of pilgrimage in eastern France.

According to tradition, Odile was born blind at the end of the seventh century, the daughter of Adalric, Duke of Alsace, who was disappointed that his child was a girl and disabled. She was brought up in a convent, and when she was baptised she regained her sight. When she grew up she returned to her father's domain, and she founded a convent on the Hohenbourg, the high fort, where the duke's castle had stood. According to legend, she was fleeing a forced marriage when a rock opened to shelter her, a story that is told in the legend of the foundation of the convent. She became the first abbess, and she died around the year 720. Her tomb is in a chapel inside the convent buildings, and pilgrims come to pray there, especially on her feast day, 13 December, and on the Sunday nearest to it.

The convent was a centre of learning in the Middle Ages. In the twelfth century the abbess Herrad of Landsberg compiled here the Hortus Deliciarum, the Garden of Delights, an illustrated encyclopaedia of Christian knowledge, which was destroyed in a fire in Strasbourg in 1870. Today visitors can see the convent chapels, including the Chapelle des Larmes, the Chapel of Tears, and the Chapelle des Anges, the Chapel of Angels, which are decorated with Romanesque features and mosaics, and walk on the panoramic terrace, with benches. A miraculous spring, associated with the saint, lies about fifteen minutes' walk from the convent, and is a place for quiet reflection.

The mountain is also known for the Pagan Wall, the Mur Païen, a vast enclosure of huge stone blocks, about eleven kilometres long, which winds around the summit through the forest. Its origins are unclear, though it is thought to be very ancient, and legends surround it. A network of hiking trails, including a circuit that follows the wall, offers good walks through the woods.

The site can be reached by road, with parking. It suits pilgrims, walkers and anyone who loves views. The town of Obernai, with its wine cellars and half-timbered houses, is at the foot of the mountain.