Bergholtz (; ) is a
commune in the
Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...
department in
Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
in north-eastern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, and, since 1 January 2021, the European collectivity of Alsace. The commune is in the historic and cultural region of
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
.
Its inhabitants are known as ''Bergholtzois'' (plural: ''Bergholtzoises'').
Geography
Situated at the midpoint between Colmar and Mulhouse (23 km from Mulhouse and 25 km from Colmar) and at the mouth of the
Guebwiller
Guebwiller (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Gàwiller'' ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, département in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It was a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the de ...
valley, Bergholtz backs onto limestone hills under the
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium 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 geomorphological unit and ...
, and largely opens up in the east on a plane of the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
onto a low-lying terrace of
loess
A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits.
A loess ...
, which offers excellent agricultural land. The village was developed along the lengths of two perpendicular paths, one of which connects to Guebwiller by following a line along the slope between the plain and the hill, and the other surrounds the mouth, towards the localities in the valley of
Orschwihr.
The name Bergholtz seems to indicate that the village left its original resources that came from the destruction of the forest which must have covered Schwartzberg ('Black Mountain'). However, the exposed slopes must have been converted into vineyards quite early on. In the eighteenth century, the wine of Bergholtz was renowned. After a continuous decrease since the end of the nineteenth century, largely because of the industrialisation of the Guebwiller valley, agriculture returned in the twentieth century, becoming a more common activity.
It is one of 188 communes of the
Ballons des Vosges Nature Park
The Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park (French: ''Parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges'') is a protected area of woodland, pasture, wetland, farmland and historical sites in the regions of Grand Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in ...
.
Town Planning
Bergholz is an urban commune, because it belongs to a dense commune or one of intermediate density, according to the grid of communal density from the
INSEE. The commune is also outside of the sphere of influence of a city.
See also
*
Communes of the Haut-Rhin department
The following is a list of the 366 Communes of France, communes of the French Departments of France, department of Haut-Rhin.
The communes cooperate in the following Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunalities (as of 2025):
References
Communes of Haut-Rhin
{{HautRhin-geo-stub