The town of Ribeauville (German: Rappoltsweiler) was formed around the castle of Rappoltstein, built in the 10th/11th century by a nobleman named Ratbald. Today's building (early 12th century) = Ulrichsburg. Early on Rappoltsweiler was regarded as the city of minstrels, travelling singers and musicians, pipers, minstrels etc. who had already organised themselves as a brotherhood in the Middle Ages. To this day, on the last Sunday of August, the Pfifferdaj, la "Fête des Ménétriers", is celebrated in historical costumes: as the largest and oldest folklore festival in Alsace.
Passing the stork towers (Tours des cigognes) and the wine tavern "Zum Pfifferhüs" we reach the town hall and the Augustinian monastery church. In 1297 a lord of Rappoltstein donated an Augustinian monastery, dissolved in the French Revolution. In the 19th century the Sœurs de la Divine Providence moved into the monastery. The Gothic church dates from the 14th century: portal with figures: Sister of the Congregation of Divine Providence, Augustine, Mary with Child, Christophorus, novice (from left to right).
The butcher's tower, built at the end of the 13th century as part of the city fortifications, served as a prison or watchtower. It got its name from the slaughterhouse built before it. From the tubes of the Renaissance fountain in front of the town hall with the lion bearing the Rapportsteiner coat of arms wine flows instead of water at the Pfifferdaj.
