France – Alsace (Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Colmar) September 12-13, 2019
STRASBOURG
GRANDE ILE. World Heritage Site (1988) This island lies at the historic center of the city and is the seat of religious and secular power. It is surrounded on one side by the main channel of the Ile River and on the other side by the Canal du Faux-Rempart, a canalized arm of the river. It was listed as a WHS in 1988 as an old quarter that exemplifies medieval cities. To mark this, 22 brass plates were placed on the bridges giving access to the island.
It is sometimes referred to an “ellipse insulaire, as it is 1.25kms at is longest and .75kms at its broadest. At the center lies Place Kléber, the city’s central square. Further south is the Strasbourg Cathedral. At the western end is the quarter of Petite France, the former home of the city’s tanners, millers and fisherman and now a main tourist attraction. The former fluvial customs house, Ancienne Douane is also on the island.
There are four other churches on the island: St Thomas, St Pierre-le-Vieux, St Pierre-le-Jeune and St Etienne. Also the Episcopal palace of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg.
Hotels Particulares and Palaces: Palais Rohan, Hôtel des Deux-Ponts (birthplace of Ludwig I of Bavaria and now home to the city’s military governor), Hôtel de Klinglin, Hôtel d’Andlau-Klinlin, Hôtel de Neuwiller and others.
I walked around about half the island next to the canal to the bridge and then back through the center via Place Kléber.
Strasbourg Cathedral (Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg). Considered to be among the finest examples of high, or late Gothic architecture. It was the world’s tallest church and building from 1647-1874. Today it is the 6th tallest church in the world and highest extant structure built entirely in the Middle Ages. It is built of sandstone from the Vosges Mountains giving it its characteristic pink hue.
The site was first a Roman sanctuary, then a cathedral at the end of the 7th century (nothing remains of it today). It caught fire in 873, 1002 and 1007. This cathedral was started in 1015 with a Romanesque style, but it burned to the ground in 1176.
Construction 1176-1439. Started in Romanesque, it changed to Gothic in 1225. The Pillar of Angels in the south transept has the Last Judgment facing the Astronomical clock from that time. The west front is decorated with thousands of figures in a series of rotated octagons. The octagonal north tower was built from 1399-1419, the world’s tallest building at the time. The south tower was never built giving it an asymmetrical appearance. The Saint Lawrence portal’s statues are copies with the originals in the Musée de l’Œuvre Notre Dame. It was proclaimed protestant in 1524 and the world’s first Christmas was set up inside in 1539. It returned to Catholic in 1681. Hitler visited in 1940 and the stained glass was removed and stored in a salt mine. Bombs heavily damaged it and these were not completely repaired until 1990.
Dimensions: 112m long (103m inside), one dome 58m high, spire height 142m, height of observation deck 66m.
Stained glass windows: mostly 14th century, the northern lateral nave is lit by 5 windows of the 19 emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.
Astronomical clock. Preceded by two other clocks, the present clock dates from 1838-43, it indicates leap years, equinoxes, computus (date of Easter), solar time, the day of the week, the month, the year, the sign of the zodiac, the phase of the moon and the position of several planets. The animated sculpted figures launch into movement at different hours of the day. One angel sounds the bell while a second turns over an hourglass. Figures ranging from a child to an old man parade in front of Death. All these are put into motion at 12:30.
€8 to climb the tower.
Palais Rohan (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg). The riverside is light sandstone, the rest is pink. I doesn’t seem to be open to the public even though there is supposed to be a museum there.
Barrage Vauban. This 2-story stone bridge is completely enclosed with 12 double windows per side. Walk through the 2m wide bottom section with rooms on each side, some containing plaster, stone and terracotta statues of saints, gargoyles and others. There are two drawbridge mechanisms. Free
Niederhaslach Church (Collegiale Saint Florent), Niederhaslach. About 35kms SW of Strasbourg, this Gothic church has a nice portal of the nativity and flying buttresses coming off Gothic towers to hold the whole place up. I had hoped that it would be open early.
Natzweiler-Struthof Camp. In the NM “The Dark Side”, this is the only concentration camp in present day France and one of the few mountain camps. It was opened in May, 1941 to work a vein of granite at the top of Mount Louise (800m). It had 52,000 inmates from 30 different European countries in the camp or one of its 70 satellite camps, the majority resistance members but also a small number of Soviet POWs, Jews, Roma and Jehovah Witnesses. It was closed in September, 1944 to the other side of the Rhine.
Drive about 7kms up the mountain. See the museum, the European Center of Deported Resistance Members, camp, necropolis, sand and granite quarries and the gas chamber.
Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg, Orschwiller. It was first mentioned as Hohenstaufin’s Castle in the 11th century and was destroyed in 1462. In 1479, it was given to the Hapsburgs who reconstructed it and equipped it for defence against artillery. During the 30 Years War, the Swedes pillaged it and it became neglected. It was gifted to Emperor Wilhelm II by the town in 1899 and he restored it to 1479 standards from 1900-18 after which it was returned to France.
Drive up a long switchbacking road to the top of the mountain. The castle sits on huge foundation rocks with the star shaped bastion at one end and the south facade an imposing sight above you as you come up the path. See the reconstructed bailey, half timbered house (the former stables and inn) and the Haut Chateau. A wonderful small wood windmill sits on top of one of the towers of the chateau.
English guided tours are at 11:45 and 15:00. €10
The view from the castle was one of the best in the world – a vast plain for many miles with low hills on the horizon. This turned out to be one gigantic vineyard – La Vin d’Alsace and I was on the wine route – lots of traffic, tour buses, tractors pulling carts full of big plastic tubs full of grapes. The tiny villages were all very cute with half-timbered houses, plaster houses in many pastel colours, town centers with all the houses joined, narrow pedestrianized lanes and lots of wine stores.
Riquewihr. A NM “small town”, it is a popular tourist attraction for its historical architecture, Riquewihr is also known for the Riesling and other great wines produced in the village. Riquewihr looks today more or less as it did in the 16th century. It is officially one of the most beautiful villages in France, or Les plus beaux villages de France. It is located on the Route des Vins (The Wines Road), close to Colmar. Riquewihr is only 11kms from Colmar and minutes from other Alsatian villages such as Ribeauvillé, Hunawihr, Eguisheim or Kaysersberg.
Originally the property of the Dukes of Württemberg, the town was converted to Protestantism in the 16th century. Historically, Riquewihr served as a Winzerdorf or “wine village” as a trading hub for Alsatian and German wine.
Riquewihr was one of the few towns in the area not to be badly damaged during World War II. The town is surrounded by its medieval fortifications and is overlooked by a castle from the same period that is today a museum.
Kayserberg. A NM “small town”, is a former commune, in 2016, it was merged into the new commune Kaysersberg-Vignoble. The inhabitants are called Kaysersbergeois. The name is German for Emperor’s Mountain.
The high fortress that dominates the city serves as a reminder of both its strategic importance and its warlike past. Together with the rest of Alsace-Lorraine, Kaysersberg was annexed by Germany during a period of 48 years, between the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War.
Kaysersberg is one of the finest wine-growing areas in Alsace. The first vines were brought there in the 16th century from Hungary, and wine production is still an important aspect of the town’s economy today. Wine produced from the pinot gris variety is a local specialty.
Kaysersberg was the birthplace of Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician.
Albert Schweitzer museum. The 1952 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Doctor Albert Schweitzer. The museum is in the heart of his hometown of Kaysersberg. It tells the story of how the hospital in Lambarene, Gabon, was founded in 1913 and then developed by Schweitzer, an Alsatian doctor, theologian and musicologist. Written documents, photographs and some of the doctor’s personal memorabilia are on display. There are also various African artefacts stemming from this region of Gabon. €4
COLMAR (68,000)
German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945, the city is renowned for its well-preserved old town, its numerous architectural landmarks, and its museums, among which is the Unterlinden Museum, which houses the Isenheim Altarpiece. Colmar is situated on the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the “capital of Alsatian wine”.
Colmar was first mentioned by Charlemagne in his chronicle about Saxon wars. This was the location where the Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat held a diet in 884. Colmar was granted the status of a free imperial city by Emperor Frederick II in 1226. In 1354 it joined the Décapole city league. The city adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1575, long after the northern neighbours of Strasbourg and Sélestat. The city was conquered by France under King Louis XIV in 1673. In 1854 cholera epidemic decimated population of the city. With the rest of Alsace, Colmar was annexed by the newly formed German Empire in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War and incorporated into the Alsace-Lorraine province. It returned to France after World War I according to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940, and then reverted to French control after the battle of the “Colmar Pocket” in 1945. The Colmar Treasure, a hoard of precious objects hidden by Jews during the Black Death, was discovered here in 1863.
Colmar is 64kms SSE of Strasbourg on the Lauch River, a tributary of the Ill. It is located directly to the east of the Vosges and connected to the Rhine in the east by a canal.
Musée d’Unterlinden. One of the main museums in Alsace. Displays the Isenheim Altarpiece (a retable of the life of Christ, seen both open and closed and many paintings both sides), a large collection of Greco-Roman, medieval, Renaissance and baroque Upper-Rhenish paintings and sculptures, archaeological artefacts, design and international modern art. €13
Musée Bartholdi. Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) was a French sculptor most known for the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France on the 100th anniversary of American independence – 46m high, 300 molded copper plates riveted and mounted onto a wood frame, inaugurated in 1886. Other works include 9 sculptures for the city of Colmar between 1856-1902 (including the Grand Soutes de Monde in the front of the house) and the Lion of Belfort.
The house that he was born has been the museum since 1922 and includes a reconstruction of his Paris apartment and models of the Colmar works. Note that it closes at noon. €6.50, 4.50 reduced
Eguisheim. A NM “small town”, the modern town surrounds the almost circular medieval town, a warren of tiny lanes and half-timbered houses. The church is not to be missed with nice stained glass of saints and murals in the apse and ceiling with 7 small Bible scenes and florals.
GO TO France – Franche-Comté (Besançon, Belfort)
NOMAD MANIA France – Alsace (Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Colmar)
World Heritage Sites
Fortifications of Vauban
Tentative WHS
Sites funéraires et mémoriels de la Première Guerre mondiale (Front Ouest) (07/04/2014)
Borders
France-Germany
France-Switzerland
Airports: Basel/Mulhouse (BSL)
Museums: La Wantzenau: MM Army Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Neuf-Brisach
Orschwiller: Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg
Saverne: Château de Pontivy
Religious Temples: Niederhaslach: Niederhaslach Church (Collegiale Saint Florent)
Pedestrian Bridges: Weil am Rhein: Dreiländerbrücke
Open-Air Museums: Ungersheim: Ecomusée d’Alsace
The Dark Side: Natzweiler-Struthof Camp
European Cities
MULHOUSE
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Mulhouse tramway
Railway Museums: Mulhouse: Cité du Train
Vehicle Museums: Mulhouse: Cité de l’automobile, collection Schlumpf
STRASBOURG World Cities and Popular Towns
World Heritage Sites: Strasbourg – Grande île
Airports: Strasbourg (SXB)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Strasbourg Railway Station, Strasbourg Tramway
Museums
Archaeological Museum
Cabinet des estampes et des dessins
European Contemporary Artistic Actions Center
Lieu d’Europe Museum
Musée Adolf-Michaelis
Musée Alsacien
Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg
Musée de l’Oeuvre Notre-Dame
Musée de Minéralogie
Musée des Arts décoratifs
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
Musée historique de Strasbourg
Musée Tomi Ungerer
Musée Vodou
Museum of Seismology and Earth Magnetism
Schiltigheim: Pixel Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Strasbourg: Palais Rohan (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
Religious Temples: Strasbourg Cathedral
Festivals: Christkindelsmärik, Strasbourg
Botanical Gardens: Jardin botanique de l’Université de Strasbourg
Planetarium: Observatory of Strasbourg
Pedestrian Bridges: Barrage Vauban
Villages and Small Towns
EGUISHEIM
MITTELBERGHEIM
RIQUEWIHR
COLMAR
Sights: Colmar – Historical Centre
Museums: Colmar: Musée d’Unterlinden
House Museums/Plantations: Colmar: Musée Bartholdi
KAYSERSBERG
House Museums/Plantations: Kaysersberg: Albert Schweitzer museum
