Discover Dossenheim-Kochersberg

A village with a history, between the roads

Dossenheim-Kochersberg sits on a hill and can be reached by three small, winding roads that follow the routes of former country lanes. Its elevation and access roads are part of the village’s distinctive character. Visitors looking for a destination with a cultural focus will find several different points of interest in the village’s history: the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, its former status as a mother parish, half-timbered farmhouses and traces of agriculture.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul and parish history

The present-day Church of Saints Peter and Paul was built in 1781. It is an 18th-century rural building with neoclassical furnishings. A cube-shaped sundial with putti from Strasbourg Cathedral sits atop a Gothic spire. On each of its four sides, a pointer shows the time according to the sun by its shadow in good weather.

The church’s baptismal font ensemble also brings together several periods: it combines elements from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Its central section bears the date 1823. This date refers to the central section, while the ensemble as a whole includes elements from three centuries.

Dossenheim became the mother parish, to which Wiwersheim, Quatzenheim, Offenheim and Kleinfrankenheim, among other places, were then subordinate. A 1629 gravestone in the churchyard wall commemorates Jean Schwartz, rector of Dossenheim and the places named above. The rectory near the church is a civic building with a rectangular floor plan and symmetrical design. It is considered a typical example of 18th-century rectories.

Traces in the village landscape

Several half-timbered farmhouses dating from the 18th and 19th centuries stand in the village centre. The former dairy, s’Mellichhiesel, has also been preserved unchanged. Livestock farming, and therefore milk production, have disappeared entirely from the village. The surviving reminders of former agriculture thus stand in contrast to an economic activity that no longer exists here.

Three dated examples of old wayside crosses have different connections to the village. The 1621 cross stands at the village exit towards Kleinfrankenheim and served as a station for the Rogation procession. Another, dating from 1623, is at the foot of the ’s Peters farmhouse and has been incorporated into private property. A cross erected in 1709 stands in front of the rectory-town hall. A Roman station was also discovered in the fields at “Auf dem Waschweg”.

Traditions and getting active

The ACLD has revived the old Witz’Owe tradition. At this biennial evening event, jokes are told in Alsatian; 150 speakers of the dialect get together. If you are travelling specifically for the event, check the date in advance.

The hiking day organised by the ACLD ends with an authentic Erbsesupp, which hikers enjoy together with older village residents. The Trail du Kochersberg includes a two-kilometre section through fields, partly along wide farm tracks and partly on a short paved stretch. This brings together a recurring language tradition, a shared meal after the hiking day and a specific stretch of trail to suit a range of interests.

More destinations

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Back to the regional travel overview: Bas-Rhin.