Église protestante Saint-Matthieu, ancienne église des Franciscains

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The convent of the Franciscans of Colmar had existed since the first half of the 13th century; a hospital in 1543, it retained this use until the early 20th century. Of the conventional buildings only the chapel remains, which was used for Protestant worship from 1575. It comprises a long and narrow choir widely lit by large openings and separated from the nave and aisles, reserved for the faithful by a very fine rood screen. The nave had a timber structure, but a false plaster ceiling now conceals the original beams and flooring, still decorated with black scrollwork on grey backgrounds, remains of 17th-century decoration. The furnishings are very austere, but mention should be made of a very fine wooden Christ of the late 15th or early 16th century placed on the rood screen. The great organ is said to be a work of Silbermann the Elder. The panels of the balusters of the rood screen and of the galleries on the aisles are decorated with oil paintings. The choir is separated from the nave by a partition. The sacristy is fitted out in a two-storey chapel where two curious stoups may be noted. The monument suffered little from the war; on the other hand, the stained glass windows were broken.