1. Lauterbourg to Fort-Louis

The church of Lauterbourg dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, the choir dates from this period and the nave was rebuilt in 1716. The bell tower was raised in 1845. The organ dates from 1777 and was restored in 1998.
In 2015, the church was renovated and the exterior lighting was re-lit to enhance the ensemble.

Lauterbourg, Haus des Landvogts Holzapfel, ehemaliges Bischofsschloss (1592-1716), dann Schule.

The Butchers' Tower or Jewish Tower is part of the fortification of the medieval town with 15 fortified towers. This tower bears witness to the city walls. The tower was recently renovated.

The Sauer Delta National Nature Reserve (RNN 135) is a national nature reserve in the Grand Est region. Created in 1997, it extends over 486 ha and protects a Rhine wetland with remarkable biodiversity.
Bringing together forests, wet meadows, mudflats and aquatic environments, this nature reserve is a remarkable vestige of the Rhine alluvial forest as it was known by the monk Colomban with his companions in 610. A multitude of meanders and dead arms favouring the development of fauna and flora.

Moder has its source in the Vosges du Nord in Zittersheim. It reaches the left bank of the Rhine, south of Beinheim, after 82.1 km. This mouth is part of a protected natural area.
Take the time to observe the flora and fauna in the wetland landscape.

The creation of the Polder de la Moder was financed by the agreement of 6 December 1982, which is part of a major Franco-German programme. It is a perfect example of the type of ambitious actions that can be undertaken by these resolutely forward-looking nations. Nations capable of thinking of the river that was their border as the ideal place to meet to manage together a common natural capital.
The first flooding test of the Moder polder carried out by the Strasbourg Navigation Service demonstrated the effectiveness of the six siphons that form the heart of its water intake structure. Designed to be operated remotely from a command and control station, this device will also make it possible in the future to ensure the gradual restoration of the alluvial environment thanks to ecological flooding.
Intended to curb the exceptional flooding of the Rhine, the Moder polder was created in the communes of Fort-Louis and Neuhaeusel as part of a vast Franco-German programme implemented in 1992. Its surface area of 240 hectares enables it to constitute, for a maximum duration of 15 days in a row, a flood retention area with a capacity of 5.6 million m3. Situated on the site of the former Moder delta, it thus regains its original vocation as a flood plain to cope with any rise in the Rhine's flow rate in excess of 3,500 m3 /s.

The first church in Fort-Louis dates back to the 17th century. Built three years after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), the royal city of Fort-Louis is, by order of the king, populated exclusively by Catholics and has a parish church: the Saint-Louis church. In 1927, it was classified as a historical monument.
After its destruction on March 15, 1945, during the battles of the Liberation, a temporary church served the parish until the inauguration of the present church on October 10, 1971, by Mgr. Jean-Julien Weber, Archbishop of Strasbourg.
Source: City of Fort-Louis

In 1648, the Thirty Years' War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia and Alsace became French.
The enemies of France are on the other side of the Rhine.
Louis XIV asks Vauban to build forts on the eastern border of the royalty and Fort-Louis is part of these constructions.
It is from 1687 that the stronghold is built on an island in the Rhine by engineers Vauban and Tarade. The King granted the rights and privileges of Ville Royale to Fort-Louis.
After the fall of the Royalty, in 1789, Fort-Louis took the name "Fort Vauban", then "Fort Libre". In 1791, it became the chief town of the canton. The stronghold declined strategically and the fortifications were dismantled during the Revolutionary Wars, then definitively during the Napoleonic Wars (1813-1815). Remains of the square fort remain.
The population grew to nearly 4,000 inhabitants in the 18th century, more than half of whom were soldiers.
More informations : City of Fort-Louis du Rhin