Village remarquable du Kochersberg Wintzenheim

Wintzenheim-Kochersberg is a small village in the Kochersberg on the flank of the Goeftberg, 25 minutes from Strasbourg. The village is built on clay-limestone soils from the secondary era, gypsum and even salt can be found there. The subsoil is 60 million years old. The localities underline its ancient exploitation: Lehmgrube, Steingrube, Gypsgrube, Kalkhof (approximate translation: clay quarry; stone quarry; gypsum quarry; limestone farm). Archaeological finds have proved that the village was already inhabited in the final Bronze Age (1200-750 B.C.).Wintzenheim Kochersberg is situated not far from an old Roman road from Kuttolsheim to Saverne. Mr. E. Hügel discovered in 1916, while digging a beet silo at the Baumgarten, a slab grave containing an iron sword, probably dating from the 6th century.

Obviously, the toponym Wintzenheim is related to the Latin word vinetum, a place planted with vines, or vinitor, a winemaker who also gave the German name Wintzer. A unique case in the Kochersberg, the village had three different places of worship at the beginning of the 20th century: a Protestant church, a Catholic church and a synagogue, of which it remains the gateway. In the central square of the village is the former guardhouse called the Laube, probably built in the 15th century, although the date 1583 can be found above the lower gate of the building. You can also see an old press stone near the wash house.