Strategic location

The cliff of Bitche is strategically situated as it is next to the intersection of several arterial roads, from the Rhine to Lorraine and from Alsace to the Pfalz, which were already important in the early Middle Ages. This impressive cliff towers 80 metres above the plain below, which was until the 19 th century largely surrounded by swampland raising its defence capability. The rock plateau is 400 metres long and only 30 metres wide. Periods of heavy fighting took place at this location until the 20 th century.

Early evidence

In the 12 th century the dukes of Lorraine, to whom the region Bitche belonged, probably only owned a hunting lodge on the cliff. The earliest legal reference to this location is an exchange document from 1297 in which Friedrich III. Duke of Lorraine exchanged the sovereignty Bitche for the palace of Saargemünd with Count Eberhard of Zweibrücken, who was also the owner of Lemberg Castle. Eberhard took his seat at Bitche and called himself Count of Zweibrücken, Lord of Bitche. The sovereignty Zweibrücken-Bitche, with Lemberg castle and its office, continued for more than 250 years.

The village grows

The sovereigns of Bitche continuously extended their grand residence. Artists and craftsmen settled at the base of the cliff. Since the end of the 17 th century the two settlements of Kaltenhausen and Rohr together with the fortress form the village of Bitche.In 1634, during the 30 Years War, the French conquered this strategic cliff. Then in 1679 the Sun King Louis XIV commissioned his fortress architect Vauban to make the cliffs of Bitche impregnable.

Impregnable fortress

The new citadel did not last a long time. The French withdrew as a consequence of the Succession Wars of the Pfalz, but as they did not want to leave for their enemy a nearly impregnable fortress, their troops destroyed Vaubans defence installations before they left.

An underground labyrinth

Belligerent past