Notre-Dame (Church of Our Lady) is a Neoclassical

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the town of

Guebwiller Guebwiller (french: Guebwiller, ; Alsatian: ''Gàwiller'' ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est currently in north-eastern France. It was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015. It is situated northwest of Mulhous ...

, in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

department of France In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

. The church is classified as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...

since 1841. The building is remarkable for its size and for the quality of its decoration; it is considered as the most important Neoclassical church in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, and as an outstanding and most sumptuous example of early Neoclassical architecture.

History

The Benedictines of the ancient and powerful but remote

Murbach Abbey Murbach Abbey (french: Abbaye de Murbach) was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges. The monastery was founded in 727 by Eberhard, Count of Alsace, and established ...

in a valley nearby had asked for papal permission to relocate in the town of Guebwiller since 1725, but that permission was only granted by

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII ( la, Clemens XIII; it, Clemente XIII; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. ...

in 1759. They settled near the residence of the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

palace built by

Peter Thumb Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

in 1715, and proceeded to erect a number of stately buildings on an area of seven

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s in the south-east of the town. The grand new

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...

was to be the centre of this "city within the city" but the whole enterprise was cut short by the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

(the remaining complex of buildings still forms a large and coherent whole). Notre-Dame was designed by Louis Beuque (1720–1797) from

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

, a pupil of

Jacques-François Blondel Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 – 9 January 1774) was an 18th-century French architect and teacher. After running his own highly successful school of architecture for many years, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Acad ...

. Designs submitted by the engineer and architect (1703–1788) in 1759 had previously been rejected, and Beuque's first submission in 1760 was also deemed "not modern enough". Beuque's second design was accepted in 1761 and work on the church started the following year.
Work was carried on with several interruptions, and Beuque was fired in 1769. He was replaced by the sculptor and architect (1732–1813), who modified some aspects of Beuque's design both on the outside and on the inside. The church was inaugurated (after several new delays) on 7 September 1785 by

Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach (1726–1794) was the Prince-Bishop of Basel from 1782 to 1794. Biography Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach was born in Zwingen on 14 December 1726, the son of Franz Josef Konrad von Roggenbach and his wi ...

, the bishop of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. At that point, the two planned steeples of the facade had not yet been built. In 1844, the north tower was added in a matching design; the south tower was never built.

Description

Type-wise, Notre-Dame de Guebwiller is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

. Unlike most other churches, its monumental facade faces east, not west; this has to do with the configuration of the town at a time when the ramparts still stood. The semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

on the inside is concealed on the outside by an additional set of walls containing the sacristy, the chapter house and the

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

; this accounts for the stern, block-like rear end of the sanctuary. The allegorical statues of the facade are the works of Gabriel Ignaz Ritter. The spacious and imposing interior is decorated with statues and reliefs, including the wooden

choir stall A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tab ...

s and the high reredos, by Ritter and (1731–1811), made between 1780 and 1788. A pair of 1833 statues by Sporrer's son Joseph replace works that had been destroyed during the French Revolution. Some paintings in the church are the work of the noted painters from

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, the sisters Monique Daniche (1736–1824) and Ursule Daniche (1741–1822). The pipe organ is a 1908 instrument in a colossal, Neoclassical 1785 organ case. The total length of the church (including the steps) is . The inside length is . The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is wide and the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

is wide (inside). The maximal exterior width is . The vaults culminate at .

Gallery

Notre-dame de guebwiller.jpg, Design by Louis Beuque (1765) Guebwiller, Notre-Dame, façade.jpg, Upper part of the front Guebwiller NotreDame23.JPG, Close-up of the facade Guebwiller NotreDame29.JPG, South side 2014-09-03 13-37-36 monument-historique-PA00085438.jpg, Inside, looking towards the choir 2014-09-03 13-30-59 monument-historique-PA00085438.jpg, Inside, looking towards the entrance 2014-09-03 13-35-29 monument-historique-PA00085438.jpg, The vaults of the transept Guebwiller NotreDame59.JPG, The pipe organ Guebwiller, Notre-Dame, intérieur avec chœur et maître-autel.jpg, Pulpit and choir Guebwiller NotreDame42.jpg, Detail of the choir stalls

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guebwiller Churches in Haut-Rhin Monuments historiques of Haut-Rhin 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France Roman Catholic churches completed in 1785

Neoclassical church buildings in France