it. Its principal building, the Rohan Castle (Château des Rohan), is the former residence of the bishops of Strasbourg, rebuilt by Cardinal de Rohan in 1779, it was used by the Germans as barracks. It now houses the city museum with its large archeological collection of Roman and Celtic artifacts, a hostel, a small arts and crafts museum as well as the collection of 20th century and ethnological art donated by feminist journalist and politician Louise Weiss. Other sights include the 15th century former castle (Château vieux) and the adjacent 15th century Roman Catholic parish church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité with fine stained glass and sculptures; a Gothic former Franciscan, then Récollets, monastery with a church and a cloister ornated by 17th-century frescoes; as well as several old houses, among which the heavily decorated Maison Katz stands out. In the vicinity are the ruined castles of Haut-Barr, Grand Geroldseck, Ochsenstein and Greifenstein. Hence a road, immortalized by Goethe in Dichtung und Wahrheit, leads across the Vosges to Pfalzburg. The mountain pass (Col de Saverne) contains a vast botanical garden, the Jardin botanique du col de Saverne. Saverne is also known for its Rose Garden, locally known as La roseraie. It is also the host of the International Contest of New Roses every year. The Garden itself blesses visitors with over 550 varieties of roses. An old semaphore tower, from the former Landau (and later Strasbourg) to Paris semaphore line, can be seen in the vicinity. It was one of the 50 stations built by the first French Empire on this line which was the second of this kind in France. Notable people Paul Acker (1874–1916), writer, author of popular novels Émile Blessig (born 1947), politician Jacques-Frédéric (1775–1833) and François Joseph Français (1768–1810), engineers and mathematicians of the revolutionary era Robert Heitz (1895–1984), politician, writer and art critic, painter and French resistance Louis François Marie Auguste Knoepffler (1864–1918), timber merchant, Mayor of Saverne and a member of the Landtag Loïc Lambour (born 1986), artistic photographer Venerable Francis Libermann (1802–1852), the son of the Chief Rabbi of Saverne. He converted to Catholicism in 1826 and later became known as "The Second Founder of The Holy Ghost Fathers". Erich Mercker (1891–1973), painter and speed skater Franz Xaver Murschhauser (1663–1738), composer and organist Gérard Oberlé (born 1945), writer and bibliographer Georges Reeb (1920–1993), mathematician Dieprand von Richthofen (1875–1946), President of the Senate to the Court of