The Pagan Wall of Mont Sainte-Odile - What Is It Really?

It surrounds the summit of Mont Sainte-Odile like a stone crown. Eleven kilometres long, five to six metres high, two metres thick, some 300,000 cyclopean sandstone blocks, some weighing several tonnes, assembled without mortar using a unique system of wooden dovetail tenons. The Pagan Wall is one of the most colossal and mysterious architectural works in Alsace - listed as a historical monument in 1840 and a "site of national archaeological interest" in 1987, on a par with Alésia or mont Beuvray. And yet no one knows with certainty who built it, or why.

A site occupied since the Neolithic period

The Mont Sainte-Odile massif has been inhabited since very ancient times. Flint tools and polished stone axes discovered during excavations testify to human occupation dating back to around 4,000 years BC. Ceramic fragments from the late Bronze Age have also been found beneath certain sections of the Wall.

A unique construction technique

What immediately strikes visitors to the Pagan Wall is its construction technique. The Vosges sandstone blocks, cut and sometimes very heavy, are assembled dry - without mortar - using a system of dovetail-shaped wooden tenons. This technique, which gives the whole structure remarkable cohesion, was used in ancient Greece as early as the 6th century BC. The wall follows the natural contours of the sandstone plateau, enclosing the summit on its northern, western and southern slopes - an area of around 110 hectares.

Who built the Pagan Wall? The great debate

The Celtic hypothesis

Long the dominant theory, this view saw the Pagan Wall as a Celtic oppidum - a Gaulish stronghold erected between the 2nd and 4th centuries BC. The Celtic presence in Alsace at this period is well documented, and the dovetail tenon technique was indeed known in the Celtic world. The wall may have delimited a sacred territory or served as a refuge for the plain's population.

The Roman hypothesis

An entrance gate discovered by archaeologist Hans Zumstein in 1968 shows characteristics of Roman origin. But specialists generally believe the Romans may have reused and modified an older structure rather than being the original builders.

The Merovingian hypothesis - the most recent

In 2015, archaeologists Madeleine Châtelet and Juliette Baudoux published a comprehensive study combining the examination of 11,000 ceramic fragments with dendrochronological dating of the wooden tenons. Their conclusion : the Wall was built - or at least substantially repaired - during the Merovingian period, in the last third of the 7th century, at the very time of Duke Etichon-Adalric, father of Saint Odile. This hypothesis is however challenged by excavations carried out between 2014 and 2022 at the Frankenbourg, suggesting an earlier date.

Why "Pagan Wall"?

The name was coined by Pope Leo IX himself - the Alsatian pope born in Eguisheim who canonised Saint Odile in 1049. He used it to describe a structure whose origin and function seemed to him pre-Christian and linked to "pagan" practices. The name has stuck ever since.

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The legends of the Pagan Wall

As with many mysterious sites, the Pagan Wall has generated its own legends. The best known tells of a miraculous spring : a blind old man was praying near the wall when Saint Odile appeared and struck the rock with her staff. A spring burst forth, whose water immediately restored his sight. This spring, still visible on the site today, continues to attract pilgrims seeking healing for eye conditions.

How to visit the Pagan Wall?

The Pagan Wall is accessible year-round, free of charge, via marked hiking trails maintained by the Club Vosgien - marked with a yellow Saint Andrew's cross. From the Mont Sainte-Odile car park, several routes are available :

• The short circuit (around 1.5 hours) follows the best-preserved sections of the wall.
• The long circuit allows a full tour of all 11 kilometres, including the Koberle gate, the ruins of Hagelschloss and the Dreistein castles.
• The Chemin des Merveilles is dotted with wooden sculptures carved by an artist-woodcutter.

Mont Sainte-Odile is located approximately 8 kilometres west of Obernai, in the first foothills of the Vosges, at an altitude of 763 metres.

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