Taennchel
Encyclopedia
The Taennchel is one of the summits of the Vosges Mountains
, rising to 988 metres. The Taennchel rises at the East of France
, in the département of Haut-Rhin
(region Alsace
), half-way between Strasbourg
to the North and Mulhouse
to the South, around 60 kilometres from both cities.
The general area around the crest, which is 6 km long, is enigmatic. The ground is strewn with rocks and various inscriptions, many of them undeciphered and remaining mysterious. Another curiosity is the "pagan wall" which covers its sides and whose origin is unknown.
The summit shelters numerous vegetable and animal species, including the lynx
, which was reintroduced to the area during the 20th century.
from the val de Lièpvre on a surface of about 800 hectares. On the north-east of the Taennchel hides the village of Thannenkirch
, and south from the mountain can be reached the old glass art
s of the Ribeaupierre which overhang the rocky blocks of the Mittelberg
(about 600 meters), the Venuskopf and the Schelmenkopf (905 m). The Taennchel is one of the summits which, from west to east, make up the continental divide between the basin of the Liepvrette up north and the one of the Strengbach down south. It's a huge mountain, its sides are widely open and strongly backed up on the side of the valley of the Liepvrette, while on the opposite side towards Ribeauvillé, it hollows out vertically in a grandiose cirque
around the small twin valleys of the Big and Little Glass Art. The Taennchel has the shape of a crescent
extending on almost 4 kilometers from the rock of the Rammelstein which is 988 meters high to the mountain which overhangs the low Taennchel from where can be seen the three ruined castles belonging to the sires of Ribeaupierre : Haut-Ribeaupierre, Saint-Ulrich
and Girsberg.
North-West can be reached the forest area of the Hury (named in old documents Jefurthe) which belong to Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines
. The forests of the Hury, Hinterwald and Kaelblin were part of the goods of the priory of Lièpvre until the high Middle Age as shown by the Charlemagne
charter signed in 774. Then the Hinterwald and the Kaelblin were taken up by the Alsatian neighbours following the change of those villages landlords, hence frequent frictions between the monks of Saint-Denis' abbey and the Alsatian towns. Those disputes poisoned relations between Alsace and Saint-Denis' abbey and also the Duchy of Lorraine until 1718.
Aside the North-East point rises the Rock of Crows which dominates an abrupt side and lets appear rocks with strange and impressive bends. A bit farther stands the Rock-shelter with the shape of a cave. The Pointed Rock (or Sharp Rock) looks like a seated boar
. Bad weather, winds and storms gnawed at its outward side, letting visible quartzite
stones of several colours. Not far from this place stand cracked rocks, made of huge units and a bit farther can be seen the beginning of the pagan wall.
According to tradition this place was dedicated to hunting, and the Lords of Ribeaupierre shut away and fed there stag
s and doe
s. However this place was not intended for such a use, for the reason that its wall isn't closed and could never have been built for that use.
.
At North, the number of harnessed sources is the most important and they supply with water the Liepvrette.
from Precambrian
, its base is made of granite
from the upper Carboniferous
(about 300 million years) and is covered with a strong sheet of sandstone
from the Triassic
(about 200 million years) which wraps in horizontal layers the summits and the sides of the mountain
.
would have given its name to the massif of Taennchel ; other say it would come from Tan or Taen which means oak
bark.
According to Robert Forrer, a famous archaeologist who studied the Mont Sainte-Odile
between 1898 and 1899 and published several books or articles devoted to medieval time, "Taennchel" would come from the Gallic word dunon or dunom which meansfortified wall.
The name "Taennchel" was first quoted in an archive document from 1357. Its name appears then under various spellings : Taennchel in 1441, Thennichel in 1473, Dannchel in 1538, Tenchel in 1416, Thaennchel, Tannchel, Dannichel, Taennchel, Tännel in 1871 and Taennchel starting to 1918.
Vosges mountains
For the department of France of the same name, see Vosges.The Vosges are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. They extend along the west side of the Rhine valley in a northnortheast direction, mainly from Belfort to Saverne...
, rising to 988 metres. The Taennchel rises at the East of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in the département of Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin is a département of the Alsace region of France, named after the Rhine river. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departements of Alsace, although is still densely populated compared to the rest of France.-Subdivisions:The department...
(region Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
), half-way between Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
to the North and Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
to the South, around 60 kilometres from both cities.
The general area around the crest, which is 6 km long, is enigmatic. The ground is strewn with rocks and various inscriptions, many of them undeciphered and remaining mysterious. Another curiosity is the "pagan wall" which covers its sides and whose origin is unknown.
The summit shelters numerous vegetable and animal species, including the lynx
Lynx
A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
, which was reintroduced to the area during the 20th century.
Location
The peak of the mountain, situated opposite to the Haut-Koenigsbourg, in the massif des Vosges, separates the valley of RibeauvilléRibeauvillé
Ribeauvillé is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.Its inhabitants are called Ribeauvillois.The picturesque town is located around north of Colmar and south of Strasbourg.-History:...
from the val de Lièpvre on a surface of about 800 hectares. On the north-east of the Taennchel hides the village of Thannenkirch
Thannenkirch
Thannenkirch is a communes in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, and south from the mountain can be reached the old glass art
Glass art
Studio glass or glass sculpture is the modern use of glass as an artistic medium to produce sculptures or three-dimensional artworks. Specific approaches include working glass at room temperature cold working, stained glass, working glass in a torch flame , glass beadmaking, glass casting, glass...
s of the Ribeaupierre which overhang the rocky blocks of the Mittelberg
Mittelberg
Mittelberg is a municipality in the district of Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria. The municipality of Mittelberg is congruent with the Kleinwalsertal, a valley that is only accessible by road from Germany. Although it is not an exclave in strict sense , its geographic position created a special situation...
(about 600 meters), the Venuskopf and the Schelmenkopf (905 m). The Taennchel is one of the summits which, from west to east, make up the continental divide between the basin of the Liepvrette up north and the one of the Strengbach down south. It's a huge mountain, its sides are widely open and strongly backed up on the side of the valley of the Liepvrette, while on the opposite side towards Ribeauvillé, it hollows out vertically in a grandiose cirque
Cirque
Cirque may refer to:* Cirque, a geological formation* Makhtesh, an erosional landform found in the Negev desert of Israel and Sinai of Egypt*Cirque , an album by Biosphere* Cirque Corporation, a company that makes touchpads...
around the small twin valleys of the Big and Little Glass Art. The Taennchel has the shape of a crescent
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
extending on almost 4 kilometers from the rock of the Rammelstein which is 988 meters high to the mountain which overhangs the low Taennchel from where can be seen the three ruined castles belonging to the sires of Ribeaupierre : Haut-Ribeaupierre, Saint-Ulrich
Saint-Ulrich
Saint-Ulrich is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
and Girsberg.
North-West can be reached the forest area of the Hury (named in old documents Jefurthe) which belong to Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines
Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines
Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
. The forests of the Hury, Hinterwald and Kaelblin were part of the goods of the priory of Lièpvre until the high Middle Age as shown by the Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
charter signed in 774. Then the Hinterwald and the Kaelblin were taken up by the Alsatian neighbours following the change of those villages landlords, hence frequent frictions between the monks of Saint-Denis' abbey and the Alsatian towns. Those disputes poisoned relations between Alsace and Saint-Denis' abbey and also the Duchy of Lorraine until 1718.
Aside the North-East point rises the Rock of Crows which dominates an abrupt side and lets appear rocks with strange and impressive bends. A bit farther stands the Rock-shelter with the shape of a cave. The Pointed Rock (or Sharp Rock) looks like a seated boar
Boar
Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
. Bad weather, winds and storms gnawed at its outward side, letting visible quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
stones of several colours. Not far from this place stand cracked rocks, made of huge units and a bit farther can be seen the beginning of the pagan wall.
According to tradition this place was dedicated to hunting, and the Lords of Ribeaupierre shut away and fed there stag
STAG
STAG: A Test of Love is a reality TV show hosted by Tommy Habeeb. Each episode profiles an engaged couple a week or two before their wedding. The cameras then follow the groom on his bachelor party...
s and doe
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
s. However this place was not intended for such a use, for the reason that its wall isn't closed and could never have been built for that use.
Hydrology
There are three sources south of the massif that supply with water the Ilbach and the Beam of the Petite Verrerie and an eastern source from which waters all flow into the Strengbach upstream from RibeauvilléRibeauvillé
Ribeauvillé is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.Its inhabitants are called Ribeauvillois.The picturesque town is located around north of Colmar and south of Strasbourg.-History:...
.
At North, the number of harnessed sources is the most important and they supply with water the Liepvrette.
Geology
The Taennchel stands on a basis of gneissGneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
from Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
, its base is made of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
from the upper Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
(about 300 million years) and is covered with a strong sheet of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
from the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
(about 200 million years) which wraps in horizontal layers the summits and the sides of the mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
.
Etymology
Some say that the "Thannen" firFir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
would have given its name to the massif of Taennchel ; other say it would come from Tan or Taen which means oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
bark.
According to Robert Forrer, a famous archaeologist who studied the Mont Sainte-Odile
Mont Sainte-Odile
Mont Sainte-Odile is a 760 m peak of the Vosges Mountains in Alsace in France. The mountain is named for Saint Odile...
between 1898 and 1899 and published several books or articles devoted to medieval time, "Taennchel" would come from the Gallic word dunon or dunom which meansfortified wall.
The name "Taennchel" was first quoted in an archive document from 1357. Its name appears then under various spellings : Taennchel in 1441, Thennichel in 1473, Dannchel in 1538, Tenchel in 1416, Thaennchel, Tannchel, Dannichel, Taennchel, Tännel in 1871 and Taennchel starting to 1918.
The famous rocks
Press review
- Claude Jouve : Note du Naturel Elsass, octobre 1991, Éd. Alsacienne du Guide, Bulletin 143, Sélestat
- André Lemblé : À la découverte du Massif du Tennchel - Les Vosges, organe du Club vosgien n°3, 1999, p. 8-9
- L'AlsaceL'Alsace-Le PaysL'Alsace-Le Pays is a regional daily French newspaper. L'Alsace covers the Alsace region and Le Pays the Franche-Comté region...
du 30 - Taennchel : les archéologues enthousiastes (Édition de la Moyenne Alsace) - L'Alsace du 3 - Archéologies allemands et autrichiens au Taennchel
- L'Alsace du 19 - Les mystères du Taennchel (article signé Lucien Naegelen)
- L'Alsace du 15 - Taennchel : messieurs les archéologues ...
- L'Alsace du 9 - Nature : un lynx dans le viseur et sur la crête de la vallée (article signé Georges Jung) Lucien Naegelen, W. Knaus : Magazine 2000plus, N°199 - Der Zauber von Tennchel, p. 72-74 J.P. Dillenseger : Der Taennchel die Unberkannnte Stätte der Götter - Freudeskreis Geomantie, janvier 2000
- Charles Albert Spindler : Le Taennchel sauvage, p. 5-8, Les Vosges N°4, 1996, organe du Club vosgien
- Jean Daniel Kientz : Magique Taennchel - Saisons d'Alsace N°32, septembre 2006