The Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption (''Our Lady of the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

Church'') is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

of the town of

Rouffach Rouffach (; German and Alsatian: ''Rufach'') is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Rouffach lies along the Alsatian wine route (''Route des Vins d'Alsace''). Its vineyards produce one of the finest A ...

in southern

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. It is one of the largest medieval churches in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...

département of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The church is also known as Saint-Arbogast Church (''Église Saint-Arbogast''). It lies 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 ...

". Although work started in the 11th century and was carried on with interruptions until 1870, the building remains unfinished.

History and architecture

The church is made of yellow and pink

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and was built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles, with

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

additions. The oldest part of the building, 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 ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

, dates from the second half of the 11th century; 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 from the 12th and 13th century and displays both late Romanesque walls and early Gothic side portals; the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

is in late Gothic style. Work on the building both outside and inside continued until 1508; however, the twin-towered façade remained unfinished. A

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

that had been built around 1300 was demolished in the 18th century and only two lateral staircases remain. Notre-Dame de l'Assomption suffered severe damage during the French Revolution and now appears relatively unadorned on both the outside and the inside. The large-scale volume of the church and the presence of several medieval building styles appear all the more evidently to the visitor. The Church is listed as a ''

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 collection of buildings, ...

'' since 1841 by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

. A comprehensive restoration of the building, which was undertaken from 1866 by the French architect Maximilien Émile Mimey, had to be stopped in 1870 because of the outbreak of the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

. The planned heightening and completion of the double-towered façade was never carried out. Only the crest of the north tower was completed, in pink Vosges sandstone, in striking colour contrast to the yellow tower base.Eglise Notre-Dame de l’Assomption de Rouffach
A sacristy was added to the building after 1918.
The north tower is high, the south tower only . The top of the

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al crossing tower, which was restored in 1854, reaches a height of . The total exterior length of the church is 68 meters as well, and the total interior length is . The interior width of the nave is , and at the transept. The maximal exterior width is .Ehrhart, Jacques (with Gérard Michel): ''Nouveau guide architectural et spirituel de Notre-Dame de l'Assomption'', Imprimerie Rugé,

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

, n.d., distributed by the Rouffach

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Furnishing

The great façade portal was vandalized during the French Revolution, when the statues and other sculptures that adorned it were shattered. On the front

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

and the

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

area, as well as on top of the apse, regions too high to be reached by ladder, some sculptures are still to be seen. Inside, some late gothic

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

– among which the "Rouffach smile" (''sourire de Rouffach''), the smiling heads of a young girl and a young boy facing each other – still testify to the ornamental style employed by some of the church's designers. Rouffach's main church owns a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

from the year 1855 (a work by Claude-Ignace Callinet) in which some of the pipes from the previous organ, of 1626, are still to be found. These are the oldest still-functioning organ pipes of Alsace.Orgue de Rouffach, Notre-Dame
The

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

of the façade (14th century) is, by the number of lancets composing it (20) as well as by overall design, the most complex in Alsace, before the much larger one of

Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', ), also known as Strasbourg Minster (church), Minster (), is a Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of ...

, which has only 16 lancets. Apart from the

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

, the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

and the tombstone of the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

Werner Falk, all three in an ornate Gothic style, the rest of the interior furnishing is mainly Neo-Gothic.

Gallery

Braun-église-de-Rouffach.jpg, The church in 1859, without the unfinished twin towers Kirche Rouffach7.jpg, South East side of the church Kirche Rouffach3.jpg, Clock on the unfinished tower Kirche Rouffach5.jpg, Top of the finished tower Notre dame de l'assomption à Rouffach.jpg, Inside view towards the choir. Opposite the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

is the

. Rouffach NotreDame32.JPG, Inside view towards the pipe organ and the rose window

References

External links

*
Close-up photo of the rose window
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouffach Churches in Haut-Rhin Monuments historiques of Haut-Rhin 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France Gothic architecture in France Romanesque architecture in France