History & heritage

Religious heritage, architectural riches

Alsace boasts a wide variety of religious sites representing different cultures and traditions. Over the centuries and throughout history, these buildings have added to the region’s precious heritage. Whether they are still places of worship or have since been transformed into museums, the churches, abbeys, and convents spark curiosity and attract visitors. Discover the architecture of our rich religious heritage.

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Experience 39
Marvel at the Issenheim Altarpiece at the Unterlinden Museum

Colmar is Alsace’s wine capital, known for its picturesque half-timbered houses, romantic canals, flower-filled windows, mazes of cobblestone streets, and gourmet cuisine. Under the high ceilings in the chapel of the Unterlinden Museum, there's a completely different kind of treasure stirring up emotion. The Issenheim Altarpiece is an early 16th-century masterpiece that draws fascinated visitors from all over the world to this 13th-century former convent turned museum. An impressive jewel of the late Gothic period, the altarpiece's eight panels fill observers with both exhilaration and wonder with the intensity of its colours and the questions it poses about art, beauty, and subjectivity. The most curious visitors can continue the artistic journey in the museum's contemporary wing, a new setting for major 20th-century artists including Monet, de Staël, Picasso, and Dubuffet.

Visit the prestigious setting of the Issenheim Altarpiece

Experience 76
Check out a human-sized masterpiece in Ottmarsheim

Stand in the centre of its octagonal layout and feel the harmony of the architecture. Admire the eight arches that support the dome, observe the play of light, and seize the details of each shape in a mental picture. This Romanesque church is unique in Alsace, and distinctive in France. Everything about it emanates balance, and your mind focusses on its beauty without the distraction of excessive dimensions. It is indeed a smaller replica of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen. Such a privilege to know that each stone carries the memory of humanity’s stories from Charlemagne up to the 1990s, when a fire destroyed the bells and the wooden organ. This sober and touching site emerged even greater from the ordeal and remains the oldest building in Alsace preserved in its original state.

Discover this historical monument

Rosheim - Eglise romane Saints Pierre et Paul 01 © D. Lett - ADT

Experience 77
Marvel at the 21 heads inside a jewel of Romanesque art

Pure and massive architecture, vaults, and a bit of light: you’re clearly in the heart of a Romanesque church. In Saints-Pierre-et-Paul Church in Rosheim to be exact, a masterpiece of Alsatian Romanesque art. The architecture from the exterior is impressive, and once through the door, a striking serenity emanates from its shapes. A multitude of details draw up your gaze. On the capitals, there's a smile, a grimace, a beard, a halo. There are all in all 21 beautifully carved heads contemplating you. Afterwards, take a stroll through the streets of Rosheim, a town on Alsace's Romanesque Road. Admire the many vestiges, including one of the oldest civil buildings in Alsace, the Romanesque House, also known as the Pagan House (1154). And to recover from these artistic emotions, taste the ropfkueche, the town's specialty: a crispy gourmet brioche that honours the art of taste.

Dive into the Romanesque era