Strasbourg Église St Thomas janvier 2015

St Thomas' Church (french: Église Saint-Thomas, german: Thomaskirche) is a historical building in

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 ...

, eastern France. It is the main Lutheran church of the city since its cathedral became Catholic again after the annexation of the town by France in 1681. It is nicknamed the "Protestant Cathedral" (''la cathédrale du Protestantisme alsacien'', ''Kathedrale der Protestanten'') or the Old Lady (''Die alte Dame''), and the only example of a hall church in the Alsace region. The building is located on the ''

Route Romane d'Alsace The Route Romane d'Alsace (Romanesque Road of Alsace) is a tourist itinerary designed by the Association Voix et Route Romane to link both the well-known and the more secret examples of Romanesque architecture of Alsace, in an itinerary of 19 st ...

''. It 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 since 1862. Its congregation forms part of the Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine.

History

The site on which the current church stands was used as a place of worship under the patronage of Thomas the Apostle as early as the sixth century. In the ninth century, Bishop

Adelochus Adelochus (786–823) or Adeloch was the 27th bishop of Strasbourg, successor of Erlehardus, from 817 to 822. He is buried in a Romanesque carved sarcophagus by the Master of Eschau, supported on couchant lions, and carved with figures in a bli ...

established a magnificent church with adjoining school, however both burned down in 1007, and again in 1144. In 1196, construction began on the façade of a new, fortress-like building with an imposing steeple, built in the Roman style. Interrupted several times, the building work was completed in 1521, in the style of the late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. Around 1450, the church commissioned a set of oil on panel paintings dedicated to the Passion of Jesus. Most of the surviving panels of this once scattered set are now kept in the

Staatliche Kunsthalle The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. The museum, created by architect Heinrich Hübsch, opened in 1846 after nine years of work in a neoclassical building next to the Karlsruhe Castle and the ...

in Karlsruhe, which is why the anonymous master who painted them earned the notname of ″ Master of the Karlsruhe Passion″. It is assumed that he is identical with the painter Hans Hirtz, recorded in Strasbourg before 1460. The upper right angle of the '' Christ Carrying the Cross'' shows the St. Thomas Church as it still looks today. In 1524, the church, which had been a pillar of local Catholic faith thanks notably to the efforts of the canon and poet

Gottfried von Hagenau Gottfried von Hagenau (also known as Götz von Hagenau, Gozzo de Hagenowe, Goetz de Haguenau, Godefridus Haguenonensis, and several other names) was a medieval priest, physician, theologian and poet from Alsace. As his name suggests, he was probab ...

, converted to the Protestant faith (

Martin Bucer Martin Bucer ( early German: ''Martin Butzer''; 11 November 1491 – 28 February 1551) was a German Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a me ...

served there as a Pastor), a status which it maintained despite annexation of Alsace to the Catholic France. It still administers the primary and secondary schools ''École Saint-Thomas'' and ''Foyer Jean Sturm'', as well as the ''Séminaire Protestant'', a seminary located in the adjacent

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 ...

building. The church played a crucial part in the liturgical revival as the place where, from 1888, Friedrich Spitta tested new forms of church service, and where the ''Akademische Kirchenchor'' ( en, Academic Chorus) was brought into being.

Julius Smend Julius Smend (10 May 1857 – 7 June 1930) was a German theologian born in Lengerich, Westphalia. He was a brother to theologian Rudolf Smend (1851–1913) and the father of musicologist Friedrich Smend. He studied theology in Bonn, Halle a ...

came to preach regularly from 1893, and between 1894 and 1899, the ''Gesangbuch für Elsaß-Lothringen'' ( en, Hymn Book for Alsace-Lorraine) was developed there. On May 7, 2006, the church was the place of the official celebration for the creation of the ''Union des églises protestantes d'Alsace et de Lorraine'' (Union of the Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine), or UEPAL.

Architecture

The church is a five- naved hall church, the oldest on the territory of former south-west Germany. Inside it is approximately 65 metres long and 30 metres wide, with a height of 22m (30m under the late-Gothic cupola). There is a gallery on the left outer aisle, and chapels to the left and right of the apse.

Features

Organs

The church is internationally renowned for its historic and musically-significant organs: the 1741 Silbermann organ, played by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1778 and faithfully restored in 1979 by

Alfred Kern Alfred Kern (born Alfred Cohen, August 8, 1924 – June 2, 2009) was an American novelist and professor. Formative years Born in Alliance, Ohio, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946 during World War II. He legally changed h ...

; the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

organist Louis Thiry recorded the Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach on this organ. The other organ is a 1905 organ in the Neo-Baroque style (installed in 1906) built by Fritz Haerpfer, following a design by the organist then, Albert Schweitzer.

Tombs

Monuments at the church date from between 1130 and 1850. Most famous are the richly decorated

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

of Bishop

(ca. 1130) by the

Master of Eschau The Master of Eschau (french: Maître d'Eschau) is the notname given to an Alsatian Romanesque sculptor and his workshop, active in the first half of the 12th century. The Master's name derives from the sculptures ( capitals, baptismal font) from ...

and the grand late-Baroque mausoleum of Marshal Maurice de Saxe (1777), created by

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785) was a French sculptor. Life Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the ''Prix de Rome'', after a severe struggle he entered the ''Ac ...

. Among the many other remarkable monuments, the Renaissance tombstone of Nikolaus Roeder von Tiersberg (1510) is notable for its realistic depiction of his decaying corpse.Tombstone of Nikolaus Roeder
Roeder had been the donor of the life-size Mount of Olives group of sculptures (1498) now to be seen inside Strasbourg Cathedral. Neoclassical sculptor

Landolin Ohmacht Landolin Ohmacht (11 November 1760 – 31 March 1834) was a German sculptor. Biography Ohmacht was born in Dunningen. He worked at first as a joiner. He studied under Canova at Rome. In 1801, he settled in Strasbourg, where he lived until his de ...

is represented by two works, one of them dedicated to

Jean-Frédéric Oberlin J. F. Oberlin (31 August 1740 – 1 June 1826) was an Alsatian pastor and a philanthropist. He has been known as John Frederic(k) Oberlin in English, Jean-Frédéric Oberlin in French, and Johann Friedrich Oberlin in German. Life Oberlin was ...

Frescos

A late-Gothic representation of Saint Michael, probably a work by

Jost Haller Jost Haller was a 15th-century Gothic painter from Alsace, active in the years 1440–1470, first established in Strasbourg, then in Metz, and in Saarbrücken. He is also called The painter of the knights (french: Le peintre des chevaliers) o ...

, is, after the Saint Christopher in

St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Wissembourg St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (french: Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul) of Wissembourg is frequently, but incorrectly, referred to as the second largest Gothic church of Alsace after Strasbourg Cathedral. However, the building, with its interior g ...

, the largest of its kind in France.

Stained-glass windows

Of the medieval leaded windows, only the rose at the front of the church remains intact. In the nave, the upper parts of the windows are lavishly decorated with architectural and botanical motifs. The representations of saints that were originally found below were destroyed in the 16th century by Protestant

iconoclasts An iconoclast is one who professes iconoclasm (the belief in the importance of the destroying physical religious images); one who objects to the use of sacred images in religion, or who opposes orthodoxy and religion. Iconoclast(s) may also refer t ...

. The choir windows are of a contemporary style.

Gallery

Strasbourg StThomas82.JPG, Main organ, by Johann Andreas Silbermann, 1741 Eglise St Thomas - Orgue de Choeur.JPG, Choir organ built to the plans of Albert Schweitzer, 1905 Sarcophage d'Adeloch.JPG,

Sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

of bishop Adeloch StThomas 07.JPG,

Fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

of Saint Michael StThomas 05.jpg, Mausoleum of Marshal Maurice de Saxe by

References

External links

* *
History and description of the organs

Website of the church community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas' Church, Strasbourg Thomas Romanesque architecture in France Religious buildings and structures completed in 1521 16th-century Lutheran churches Monuments historiques of Strasbourg Gothic architecture in Strasbourg Hall churches 16th-century churches in France