Wasgau

The Wasgau (German: Wasgau, French: Vasgovie) is a Franco-German hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle. It is formed from the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the northern part of the Vosges mountains, and extends from the River Queich in the north over the French border to the Col de Saverne (German: Zaberner Steige) in the south.

The highest hill in the entire Wasgau is the Grand Wintersberg (581 m above NHN) near Niederbronn-les-Bains in northern Alsace. Next, at 577 m is the only slightly lower Rehberg near Annweiler in the South Palatinate, which is the highest summit on German soil in the Wasgau.

The Wasgau forms the southern part of the Palatine Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve.

Geography

Location

The Wasgau runs from a line between Pirmasens and Landau in the north that, from Wilgartswiesen coincides with the course of the River Queich, to the Col de Saverne and a line between Phalsbourg (German: Pfalzburg) to Saverne (German: Zabern) in the south. Its eastern boundary, running from Albersweiler in the Queich valley via Bad Bergzabern, Wissembourg (German: Weißenburg) in Alsace and Niederbronn-les-Bains (German: Bad Niederbronn) to Saverne is the edge of the Rhine Graben. In the west the hills transition smoothly into the landscape region of the Westrich Plateau; from there the younger rock strata of the muschelkalk cover the bunter sandstone that dominates the Wasgau. This natural boundary runs roughly from Pirmasens via Eppenbrunn, Bitche (German: Bitsch) and Lemberg in Lorraine towards the south and, near Phalsbourg, finally reaches the fault zone of the narrow Col de Saverne; this separates the Wasgau from the "real" (North) Vosges immediately to the south, although this transition is rather gradual and the dividing line not particularly clear.