St. Peter And St. Paul's Church, Wissembourg
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St. Peter and St. Paul's Church () of
Wissembourg Wissembourg (; South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Wissembourg was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015. The name ''Wissembourg'' ...
is frequently, but incorrectly, referred to as the second largest
Gothic church Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
of
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 ...
after
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 ...
. However, the building, with its interior ground surface area of () most probably is the second largest Gothic church in
Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...
which is one of the two departments of the Alsace region.


History

In 1524, the abbey, now entirely destitute, was turned into a secular collegiate church at the instigation of its last abbot, Rüdiger Fischer, which was then united with the
Bishopric of Speyer The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wür ...
in 1546. The former
abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...
church (''abbatiale'') of Wissembourg's famous Benedictine abbey now serves as the main
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. The church displays a Romanesque bell tower, the sole remain of the church built in the 11th century under the direction of
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
Samuel, and is thus a station on the '' Route Romane d'Alsace''. The major part of the currently visible church is the work of builders under the command of abbot Edelin, in the late 13th century. During the 14th and 15th century, the church was richly decorated with
stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
, sculptures and mural paintings but only parts of the former abundance of works survived the vandalism which occurred during the French Revolution; of the surviving stained glass, what is not seen in the church itself can be found in
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
's Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame. The wide Romanesque crown chandelier representing the celestial Jerusalem and for which Wissembourg had been famous was also lost during that period; the currently visible chandelier is a 19th-century work. The church contains a fresco representing
Saint Christopher Saint Christopher (, , ; ) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Decius (), or alternatively under the emperor Maximin ...
: with its height of , it is the largest painted human figure on French territory. Among the church's remaining treasures features 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 ...
, built by Louis Dubois in 1766 in one of the largest baroque organ cases in Alsace. When this organ had become barely playable, another organ was installed in the south transept in 1953, in a design typical of its time. The Dubois organ was restored in its (almost) original state between 2010 and 2012. Located in the south transept of the abbey, the new organ, built by Roethinger on the principles and aesthetics of the 1950s was taken up in 1989 by Yves Koenig. It remained totally authentic and is therefore a valuable witness of the organ building at the middle of the twentieth century. (accessed February 7, 2015). A spacious and ornate but unfinished 15th century
cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...
in Late Gothic style and an adjacent Romanesque
Chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
(12th century) now serving as a lateral chapel are the only other remains of the
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
where Otfrid of Weissenburg once studied and taught.


Gallery

File:Wissembourg 3.JPG, Seen from a distance File:Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul Wissembourg-pjt.jpg, Interior File:Wissembourg StPierre-Paul111a.jpg, Other inside view File:Wissembourg Dubois Organ.jpg, The Dubois organ (1766) File:Wissembourg StPierre-Paul49.JPG, The Roethinger organ (1953) File:Wissembourg IMG 3654.jpg, Romanesque bell tower File:Wissembourg - Eglise Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul -6.jpg,
Porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...
of main entrance File:Wissembourg - Eglise Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul -1.jpg, Rear view File:Saint Christophe - Eglise St Pierre et Paul - Wissembourg.jpg, Saint Christopher File:Cloister of Saints-Pierre-et-Paul, Wissembourg.jpg, The unfinished cloister


References

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