I’ve seen yesterday some very beautiful old half-timbered houses at the Ecomusee of Alsace (only in French) – Alsace is a region of the north-east of France, near the German and Swiss borders, where I live and come from. My region is often represented by storks, which can be found also in the Ecomusee.

The Ecomusee of Alsace is the largest open-air museum in Europe, visited by nearly 400’000 visitors yearly.

It contains about 70 traditional style buildings which were dismantled piece by piece in their village of origin and reassembled in this living museum. It features constructions dating from the 12th to the 19th century. Visitors can study the technical evolution of traditional building methods.

A half-timbered house from a little village called “Artolsheim”, near the Rhine. I was built in 1561. This house was salvaged from destruction in 1987 at the last minute… Above: before the transport and renovation, below: how it looks like today.

The one below comes from Gommersdorf and was built in 1682.

All that made the daily life of this period (and specially the 19th and 20th centuries), the work and the celebrations of the past generations, is collected and demonstrated. You can also enjoy numerous activities and historical reenactments, as seeing (and hearing) this old tractor.

Really a beautiful place I recommend if you visit our region!