{{short description|Commune in Grand Est, France}} {{Infobox French commune |name = Eguisheim |commune status = Commune |image = Street-in-Eguisheim.jpg |caption = Street in Eguisheim |image coat of arms = Blason Eguisheim.svg |arrondissement = Colmar-Ribeauvillé |canton = Wintzenheim |INSEE = 68078 |postal code = 68420 |mayor = Claude Centlivre<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=13 September 2022|language=fr}}</ref> |term = 2020–2026 |intercommunality = |coordinates = {{coord|48.0436|7.3067|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |elevation m = 210 |elevation min m = 191 |elevation max m = 764 |area km2 = 14.13 |population = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}} |population date = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}} |population footnotes = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}} }}
'''Eguisheim''' ({{IPA|fr|egisaim|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-0x010C-Eguisheim.wav}};<ref>{{Cite web|title=Localisation et prononciation des noms de lieux d'Alsace commençant par E, F ou G|url=http://elsasser.free.fr/NomCommu/ElsComEG.html|work=elsasser.free.fr|accessdate=2019-01-29|archive-date=2020-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820192953/http://elsasser.free.fr/NomCommu/ElsComEG.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{langx|de|Egisheim}}; Alsatian: ''Egsa'') is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies in the historical region of Alsace ({{langx|de|Elsass}}). The village lies on the edge of the Ballons des Vosges Nature Park, where the Vosges meet the Upper Rhine Plain.
Eguisheim is about {{convert|7|km|0}} from Colmar.
The vineyards around Eguisheim produce Alsace wine of high quality. The village is ranked in the top 20 of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. In May 2013 it was voted the 'Village préféré des Français' (Favorite French Village), an annual distinction that passes from town to town throughout France.<ref>[http://www.lalsace.fr/haut-rhin/2013/06/05/eguisheim-est-village-prefere-des-francais-en-2013 ''Eguisheim «Village préféré des Français» en 2013'' on the lalsace.fr website]</ref>
== Toponymy == The ancient estate spanning the communes of Eguisheim and Husseren was likely named ''Exsa'' or ''Exa'', leaving Alsatian variants like ''Agse'' or ''Egse''—nicknames still used by locals today[20]. The term ''Die drei Hexe'' (literally “Three Witches” in German tinged with Alsatian dialect) refers to the three castles long in ruins on these communes. Though simplified as ''die drei egisheimer Schlösser'' (“the three Eguisheim castles”), the literal translation of ''Drei Hexe'' has fueled speculation among enthusiasts of infernal folklore. The Gallo-Roman name ''Exsa'' likely denotes a defensive withdrawal or fortification relative to a common Roman thoroughfare. This prefix characterizes the hills, mounts, and lands of the expansive, peripheral Gallo-Roman estate. Carolingian cartularies from around 770 CE refer to the estate as ''Aginesheim''. Proponents of anthroponymic influence argue that the Germanic personal name ''Agino'', ''Egeno'', or ''Egino''—common in ancient records and linked to a figure named Egino, a descendant of Duke Aldaric—combines with the suffix ''-heim''. The latter derives from an old Germanic lexeme meaning “house” or “dwelling,” later extended to “village.” Another hypothesis posits that ''Exsina'', a diminutive of ''Exsa'', evolved into ''Agesina'' and later ''Agina'', suggesting it was once an outlying hamlet of the estate. The suffix ''-heim'' commonly denotes a significant, often royal, domain—not only in Alsace but also in Swabia and across Germany. Slightly altered to ''-hem'' in Flemish, it appears in Belgium and Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and even in Britain as ''-ham''. Its origin may also lie in Gaulish, with ''-heim'' being a Germanic adaptation. Combined with the Saxon genitive of dependency, this explains ''Aginasheim'', later ''Eginesheim'' and finally ''Eguisheim''. The evolution differs for ''Eginesberg'', which morphed early into ''Egischberg'' and then ''Eichberg'', referring to the hill of the local grand cru vineyard. Notably, the original German spelling was ''Egisheim''; the letter “U” was inserted to “Frenchify” the toponym,<ref>{{Citation |last=Grondin |first=Simon |title=Les enfants nés la même année n'ont pas nécessairement le même âge |date=2021-08-17 |work=La psychologie au quotidien - Édition complète |pages=67–82 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1x676mn.7 |access-date=2025-04-16 |publisher=Presses de l'Université Laval |isbn=978-2-7637-5431-4 |last2=Lemoyne |first2=Jean |last3=Trudeau |first3=François}}</ref> resulting in a phonetic francization. The cited castles—likely ancient watchtowers overseeing the plains and foothills—were only fully constructed in ashlar stone by the 12th century. They bore names like ''castel de Vaudémont'', ''burg de Weckmund'', ''Wahlenburg'' (or ''Wahlenbourg''), and ''Dagsbourg'' (or ''Dabo''), after dominant lordly families. The town long belonged to the ''Eguisheim-Dabo'' line, while the lesser ''Weckmund'' and ''Wahlenbourg'' families—possibly named retroactively after their castles—were connected through marriage.
==History== Human presence in the area as early as the Paleolithic age is testified by archaeological excavations. Two parts from a human skull (from the frontal and parietal bones) were found in 1865 and given to Charles-Frédéric Faudel, a physician in nearby Colmar, who carefully described the find<ref>{{cite journal|first=Charles-Frédéric|last=Faudel|title=Sur la découverte d'ossements humains fossiles dans le lehm alpin de la vallée du Rhin à Eguisheim, prês de Colmar|journal=Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences|year=1866|volume=63|pages=689–691}}</ref> and noted they were found undisturbed between animal bones, which allowed for a relative dating at a time when the very existence of prehistoric humans was still doubted.<ref name=goodrum>{{cite journal|title=Crafting a New Science: Defining Paleoanthropology and Its Relationship to Prehistoric Archaeology, 1860–1890|first=Matthew R.|last=Goodrum|journal=Isis| volume=105|issue=4|year=2014|pages=706–33|jstor=10.1086/679420|doi=10.1086/679420|pmid=25665380 |s2cid=26727221 }}</ref> The find became known in France in 1867 through Paul Broca,<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bmsap_0301-8644_1867_num_2_1_4286|title=Fragments de crâne humaine d'Eguisheim|first=Paul |last=Broca|author-link=Paul Broca|journal=Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris|year=1867 |volume=2|pages=129–131|doi=10.3406/bmsap.1867.4286}}</ref> and subsequently became a topic of discussion in the debate over what would become paleoanthropology.<ref name=goodrum/> Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de Bréau and Ernest Hamy, in their 1873 ''Crania ethnica'', grouped Eguisheim and others with the finds at Neanderthal and Naulette, creating a "race of Canstadt" that was so flexible that almost all fossil remains of humans would fit.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=André Leroi-Gourhan|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1rCOYpWdOvEC&pg=PA11|title=Gesture and Speech|first=André |last=Leroi-Gourhan|translator-first1= Anna Bostock|translator-last1= Berger|editor1-first=Randall |editor1-last=White|publisher=MIT Press|year=1993|isbn=9780262121736|chapter=The Image of Ourselves|pages=3–24}}</ref>
Gustav Schwalbe (who first published on the skull in 1897<ref>{{cite journal|first=Gustav|last=Schwalbe|author-link=Gustav Albert Schwalbe|title=Über die Schadelformen der altesten Menschenrassen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Schadels von Egisheim|journal=Mitteilungen der philomathischen Gesellschaft in Elsas-Lothringen|volume=5|issue=3 |year=1897}}</ref>), in a comparison with other skull fragments including those found in Spy, Belgium, concluded the skull was sufficiently different from Neanderthal skulls and approached the measurements of modern humans. One reviewer cast some doubt on Schwalbe's comparison and argued that only the cranial vault was substantially different from the others, but this, he said, could have been a normal variation from the mean within a group.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bmsap_0301-8644_1899_num_10_1_5841|journal=Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris |title= L'homo neanderthaliensis et le crâne d'Eguisheim|last=Zaborowski-Moindron|first=Sigismond |author-link=Sigismond Zaborowski-Moindron|year=1899 |volume=10 |pages=283–93|doi=10.3406/bmsap.1899.5841 }}</ref> Later scholars seem to have accepted the identification of the skull as belonging to a Neanderthal,<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYQVAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA488|title=History as told in the cave deposits in the Ardennes: The travels of the cavemen of the Stone Age, and their legends|pages=484–597 |journal=The Westminster Review|volume=147|year=1897|first=J. F. |last=Hewitt}}</ref> though Schwalbe again, in 1902, insisted on the difference between the Eguisheim and Neanderthal skulls.<ref name=duckworth>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mR4_AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA78|journal=Man|title=Reviews: Craniology; Bluid, Schwalbe|first=B. L. H.|last=Duckworth|date=1903|pages=77–78|doi=10.2307/2839804 |jstor=2839804 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1904 Schwalbe proposed a species he called ''Homo primigenius'' for what at least one of his contemporaries called ''Home neandertalensis'', and excluded the Eguisheim skull from that category.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Reviewed Work: ''Die Vorgeschichte des Menschen'' by G. Schwalbe|first=George Grant |last=MacCurdy|author-link=George Grant MacCurdy|journal=American Anthropologist |series=New Series|volume=6|issue=2 |pages=336–38|jstor=659078 |year=1904 |doi=10.1525/aa.1904.6.2.02a00100 |doi-access=}}</ref>
In early historic times it was inhabited by the Gaul tribe of the Senones; the Romans conquered the village and developed here the cultivation of wine.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}
In the early Middle Ages, the Dukes of Alsace built a castle here (11th century) around which the current settlement developed.
==Climate== Eguisheim has a climate that is principally oceanic being influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, it is warm and temperate. It is rated as CfB on the Köppen-Geiger scale. Because Eguisheim is landinward temperatures in the summer regularly exceed {{cvt|25|C}}. January is generally the coldest month, although the temperature occasionally drops below 0 °C, the average temperature is above freezing point. May and June are usually the wettest months of the year (there is rainfall almost every other day). June, July and August are the hottest months with the most sun. September is not extremely wet or hot, making it very suitable for the harvest of grapes.
==Wine== Eguisheim has two areas which produce wine of exceptional quality, Eichberg (in English: Oak Mountain)<ref>[https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-eichberg Eichberg on the Wine Searcher website]</ref> and Pfersigberg (in English: Peach Mountain),<ref>[https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-pfersigberg Pfersigberg on the Wine Searcher website]</ref> characterised by the very hard Muschelkalk. Besides the usual-quality wines, Eguisheim produces Edelzwicker, Côte d'Eguisheim (a local high-end variety of Edelzwicker) and Gentil, all blends of the "noble" grapes grown locally.
==Tourism== [[File:Window-Eguisheim.jpg|thumb|220px|A window in Eguisheim with an inscription in Alsatian.]] The village is a popular tourist destination, in part because the Alsace "Wine Route" passes the village. The village is close to Husseren-les-Châteaux and is in the middle of vineyards. The village is connected to Husseren-les-Châteaux by the Route du Vin (D14). Around the Route du Vin is a wine trail through the vineyards called ''Sentier viticole Eguisheim'', which tries to explain the different grape varieties and the way wine is made in Alsace.<ref>[https://www.visit.alsace/en/253000815-sentier-viticole-eguisheim/ Sentier viticole on the Visit Alsace website]</ref>
The area around Eguisheim is popular with hikers and cyclists. There are many marked trails. Popular destinations are Les Trois Châteaux (in Husseren-les-Châteaux) and Château de Hagueneck. A little further away are Château du Hohlandsbourg and Château de Pflixbourg, which can be reached on foot or by car.
The village is also a ''Village Cigogne d'Alsace'' (in Alsatian: Elsässisches Storckadorf), meaning that there are storks in the village. Eguisheim has a park dedicated to the white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') which is freely accessible.
==Notable people== Leo IX (1002–1054), pope of the Catholic Church from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. Eguisheim was his birthplace on 21 June 1002.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Leo-IX Pope Leo IX on the Britannica website]</ref> At this time Eguisheim was German.
==International relations== Eguisheim is twinned with * {{flagicon|FRA}} Hautvillers, France * {{flagicon|BEL}} La Louvière, Belgium * {{flagicon|GER}} Hinterzarten, Germany * {{flagicon|USA}} Castroville, Texas
It has also friendship agreements with: * {{flagicon|FRA}} Aubusson, France * {{flagicon|BEL}} Brussels, Belgium * {{flagicon|USA}} Tazewell, Tennessee, USA
==See also== * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.ot-eguisheim.fr/ Tourism Office of Eguisheim]
==Gallery== 1000px|Panoramic view of centre of Eguisheim {{Commons}}
{{Haut-Rhin communes}} {{Les Plus Beaux Villages de France}} {{authority control}}
Category:Communes of Haut-Rhin Category:Plus Beaux Villages de France Category:Neanderthal sites Category:Prehistoric sites in France