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 ...
, eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It is the main
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
church of the city since
its cathedral became
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 ...
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
A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an ar ...
in the
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 ha ...
region. The building is located on the ''
Route Romane d'Alsace''. 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
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 (visual ...
since 1862. Its congregation forms part of the
.
History
The site on which the current church stands was used as a place of worship under the patronage of
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...
as early as the sixth century. In the ninth century, Bishop
Adelochus 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
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
style. Interrupted several times, the building work was completed in 1521, in the style of the late
Gothic. Around 1450, the church commissioned a set of
oil on panel paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
dedicated to the
Passion of Jesus
In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ.
Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...
. Most of the surviving panels of this once scattered set are now kept in the
Staatliche Kunsthalle in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants ...
, 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
Christ Carrying the Cross on his way to his crucifixion is an episode included in the Gospel of John, and a very common subject in art, especially in the fourteen Stations of the Cross, sets of which are now found in almost all Roman Catholi ...
'' 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, 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 ...
served there as a
Pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy an ...
), 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
Friedrich Spitta (11 January 1852 – 7 June 1924) was a German Protestant theologian.
Biography
Spitta was born at Wittingen, Lower Saxony, the son of German hymn writer Karl Johann Philipp Spitta and brother of Philipp (music histori ...
tested new forms of church service, and where the ''Akademische Kirchenchor'' ( en, Academic Chorus) was brought into being.
Julius Smend 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
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
), or UEPAL.
Architecture
The church is a five-
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 ...
d 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
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
). 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
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
in 1778 and faithfully restored in 1979 by
Alfred Kern; the
French organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...
Louis Thiry recorded the
Art of Fugue
''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (german: Die Kunst der Fuge, links=no), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fu ...
by
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
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
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
.
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 Gre ...
of Bishop
Adelochus (ca. 1130) by the
Master of Eschau and the grand late-Baroque mausoleum of Marshal
Maurice de Saxe
Maurice, Count of Saxony (german: Hermann Moritz von Sachsen, french: Maurice de Saxe; 28 October 1696 – 20 November 1750) was a notable soldier, officer and a famed military commander of the 18th century. The illegitimate son of Augustus ...
(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 '' A ...
. 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
Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', german: Liebfrauenmünster zu Straßburg or ''Straßburger Münster''), also known as Strasbourg ...
. Neoclassical sculptor Landolin Ohmacht is represented by two works, one of them dedicated to Jean-Frédéric Oberlin.
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) ...
, is, after the Saint Christopher in St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Wissembourg, 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. 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
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
, 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 Gre ...
of bishop Adeloch
StThomas 07.JPG, Fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of Mural, 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 ...
of Saint Michael
StThomas 05.jpg, Mausoleum of Marshal Maurice de Saxe
Maurice, Count of Saxony (german: Hermann Moritz von Sachsen, french: Maurice de Saxe; 28 October 1696 – 20 November 1750) was a notable soldier, officer and a famed military commander of the 18th century. The illegitimate son of Augustus ...
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 '' A ...
References
External links
*
*
History and description of the organs
Website of the church community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas' Church, Strasbourg
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
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