Guebwiller (french: Guebwiller, ; Alsatian: ''Gàwiller'' ; ) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is the ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Grand Est Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten; Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administrat ...

currently in north-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015.Décret n° 2014-1720 du 29 décembre 2014 portant suppression des arrondissements de Guebwiller et de Ribeauvillé (département du Haut-Rhin)
/ref> It is situated northwest of

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

at the foot of the

Vosges mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

. The '' Ballon de Guebwiller'', the highest point in the Vosges, lies to the west of the town. In 2018, Guebwiller had a population of 11,022 and its

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

had a population of 28,662.

History

Guebweiler, as Gebweiler, is mentioned as early as 774. It belonged to the religious foundation of

Murbach Murbach is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Murbach Abbey is located near Murbach. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French depar ...

, and in 1759 the abbots chose it for their residence. In 1789, at the outbreak of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, the monastic buildings were laid in ruins, and, though the archives were rescued and removed to

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

, the library perished.

Geography

Climate

Guebwiller has a

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Guebwiller is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Guebwiller was on 13 August 2003; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 20 December 2009.

Population

People

Guebwiller was the birthplace of * Casimir de Rathsamhausen (1698-1786) * Ignace Ritter (1732-1813), architect *

François Joseph Rudler François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, Kin ...

(1757-1837) * Émile Keller (1820-1909) *

Niklaus Riggenbach Niklaus Riggenbach (21 May 1817 – 25 July 1899) was the inventor of the Riggenbach rack system and the counter-pressure brake. He was also an engineer and locomotive builder. Niklaus Riggenbach, from Rünenberg, Basel-Landschaft, Sw ...

(1817-1899), engineer * Frédéric Ritter (1819-1893) *

Théodore Deck Joseph-Théodore Deck (2 January 1823 – 15 May 1891) was a 19th-century French potter, an important figure in late 19th-century art pottery. Born in Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, he began learning the trade in his early 20s, moving to Paris at age 24. ...

(1823-1891), ceramist *

Joseph Guerber Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(1824-1909), writer and journalist *

Gustave Schlumberger Léon Gustave Schlumberger (17 October 1844 – 9 May 1929) was a French historian and numismatist who specialised in the era of the crusades and the Byzantine Empire. His ' (1878–82) is still considered the principal work on the coinage of the c ...

(1844-1929), historian, Byzantinist, numismatist * Andreas Bauer (1866-1900) missionary Franciscan friar, martyr in China *

Jeanne Bucher Jeanne may refer to: Places * Jeanne (crater), on Venus People * Jeanne (given name) * Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, 1412–1431) * Joanna of Flanders (1295–1374) * Joan, Duchess of Brittany (1319–1384) * Ruth Stuber Jeanne (1910–2004), Americ ...

(1872-1946) *

Prosper Merklen {{wiktionary, prosper Prosper may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places in the United States * Prosper, Minnesota, an unincorporated community * Prosper, North Dakota, an unincorporated community * Prosper, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Prosper, Texa ...

(1874-1939), physician * Jean Schlumberger (1877-1968), publisher and writer * Francois Conrad Schlumberger (1878-1936), co-founder of

Schlumberger Schlumberger Limited (), doing business as SLB, is an oilfield services company. Schlumberger has four principal executive offices located in Paris, Houston, London, and The Hague. Schlumberger is the world's largest offshore drilling compa ...

. see

Schlumberger Brothers Conrad Schlumberger (2 October 1878 in Gebweiler (Alsace-Lorraine) – 9 May 1936 in Stockholm) and Emile Henry Marcel Schlumberger (21 June 1884 in Gebweiler – 9 May 1953 in Val-Richer) were brothers from the region of Alsace-Lorraine, France, ...

Charles Hueber Charles Louis Hueber (21 August 1883 – 18 August 1943) was an Alsatian politician. He was the mayor of Strasbourg between 1929 and 1935, and a member of the French National Assembly twice.Charles, Louis HUEBER (1883 - 1943)' Hueber became invo ...

(1883-1943), politician * Emile Henry Marcel Schlumberger (1884-1953), co-founder of

. see

* Louis Gava (1891-1965), conductor * Al Weill (1893-1969), boxing manager * Joseph Storck (1897-1989) * Alfred Kastler (1902-1984), physicist * Émile Baas (1906-1984), essayist *

Pierre Lévy Pierre Lévy (; born 1956) is a Tunisian-born French philosopher, cultural theorist and media scholar who specializes in the understanding of the cultural and cognitive implications of digital technologies and the phenomenon of human collective ...

(1907-2002), industrialist * Armand Walter (1908-1995) * Robert Schilling (historian) (1913–2004), * Pierre Ritz (1922-2009), conductor and composer *

Katia Krafft Catherine Joséphine "Katia" Krafft ( née Conrad; April 17, 1942 – June 3, 1991) and her husband, Maurice Paul Krafft (March 25, 1946 – June 3, 1991), were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, on Ju ...

(1942-1991), volcanologist * Roland Hodel (1943-), prefect and politician * Sonia Pelletier-Gautier (1958-), historian and writer

Twin towns

Guebwiller is twinned with: *

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

(

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) *

Castelfiorentino Castelfiorentino is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central-northern Italy, halfway between Florence (distance 30 km), Pisa (45 km) and Siena (55 km). The population is approximate ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

)

Points of interest

* Romanesque and early

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church, ''Église Saint-Léger'' *Gothic former Dominican

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

''Les Dominicains'', now used as a cultural center. *

Early Renaissance Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

townhall (''Hôtel de ville'') * Neoclassical church '' Église Notre-Dame'', the largest Neoclassical church in Alsace *''Musée Théodore Deck et des pays du Florival'', the largest museum in

outside Colmar and Mulhouse *

Parc de la Marseillaise The Parc de la Marseillaise is a public arboretum and botanical garden in the center of the town of Guebwiller, in the department of Haut-Rhin, in the Alsace Region of France. It is classified by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notab ...

* Synagogue of Guebwiller