Riquewihr is a medieval town fortified since 1291. Its main street is filled with wealthy bourgeois' highly decorated half-timbered houses. They often were an instrument of prestige for their owners. The House of the Black Bear was built in 1545, in place of a building mentioned in 1378. The ground floor has a section of wood adorned with a cherub, often compared to a Manneken Pis. The Buttercup House displays, on the oriel and its turret, the coat of arms of the Flach family who had it built in 1566.