Église Saint-Pierre

English translation

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History

To the south-east of Belfort, in the Sundgau, the village of Froidefontaine possesses a Romanesque church dedicated to Saint Peter. It belonged to the Cluniac priory founded in 1105 by Ermentrude, widow of Count Thierry of Montbéliard, sister of Pope Callixtus II and of Hugues II, archbishop of Besançon. Built in the 12th century, the priory experienced a period of neglect in the 16th and early 17th centuries, before being assigned by Archduke Leopold of Habsburg (1614-1662), who had inherited the advocacy of the priory, to the college of the Jesuits of Ensisheim around 1636. From this period of renewal dates the building situated to the north of the church, constructed in 1720. In the early 17th century, work of repairs and reconstructions were also carried out on the nave. When the order of the Jesuits was suppressed in Alsace, in 1765, the goods of the college of Ensisheim were assigned to the Royal College of Colmar until the French Revolution. In the early 19th century, the priory of Froidefontaine undergoes transformations. Two abbatial buildings are destroyed and the first bays of the nave are demolished. A new façade is drawn in 1833 by the Belfort architect Aristide Poisat. Before the Revolution, the church had already lost certain elements of its Romanesque fittings such as the south apsidiole as well as the south transept arm (both identified by archaeological survey) and its two-pitched roof. It is possible also that the bell tower was formerly at the crossing of the transept. Work in the years 1953 then 1970-1980 altered the church. The church comprises a basilical vessel with nave and aisles, of four bays, of which several western bays are missing. The nave has four bays of round-arch arcading resting on cylindrical piers with square, chamfered abacus and octagonal base cut square. The columns of the first bay, thicker, bear cubic capitals with moulded abacuses. The choir opens onto a semicircular apse covered with a cul-de-four vault. The arch of the apse rests on sculpted imposts. On the exterior, the apse is adorned with an elaborate cornice comprising three sculpted heads. Interesting sculpted elements have also been found in the vicinity of the church. René Tournier attributes the church of Froidefontaine stylistically to Rhineland influence. It can indeed be compared to other Romanesque churches of the Sundgau such as the Church of Saint-James-the-Greater of Feldbach (Haut-Rhin).