Assumption of Mary (Rouffach)
The Church of the Assumption ( French : Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption ) is the parish church of the town of Rouffach in southern Alsace . It is one of the largest medieval churches in the Haut-Rhin department . The church is also known as the Saint Arbogast Church ( Église Saint-Arbogast ). It is on Romanische Strasse .
Building history and architecture
The yellow sandstone church is built in Romanesque and Gothic styles. The transept dates from the 2nd half of the 11th century, the nave from the 12th century; the central nave was built in the 13th century while retaining the Romanesque outer walls and side portals in the early Gothic style; the choir is high Gothic.
The building was built until 1508, the double tower facade remained unfinished. The rood screen , built around 1300, was demolished in the 18th century except for the two side staircases. The top of the octagonal crossing tower , renewed in 1854 , reaches a height of 68 meters.
The building was badly damaged during the French Revolution and now appears relatively unadorned both inside and outside. The large volume of the church and the presence of several medieval architectural styles appear all the more obvious to the observer. A comprehensive restoration of the building, which was undertaken from 1866 by the Parisian architect Maximilien Émile Mimey, had to be canceled in 1870 due to the Franco-Prussian War . The planned increase and completion of the twin tower facade was never completed. Only the crowning of the north tower was added, namely in pink Vosges sandstone, in a striking color contrast to the tower base. The north tower thus reached its current height of 56 meters, the south tower remained only 42 meters high. The total external length of the church is 68 meters, the interior of the church is 64 meters long. In the transept, the maximum outside width is 36 meters and the inside width 28 meters; the nave is 20 meters wide inside.
Furnishing
In the course of the French Revolution, all the vestments and other sculptures were knocked off the large main facade portal. A few sculptures can still be seen on the facade gable and in the upper cladding area as well as in the upper area of the apse. The mastery of the sculptors who worked on the centuries-old Rouffach construction site are still testified by some highly Gothic figure capitals , including the well-known "Rouffacher smile" ( sourire de Rouffach ), the smiling heads of a young man and a young woman.
organ
In the interior, the Rouffacher Church also has an organ from 1855, in which pipes from a previous organ from 1626 can still be found. These are the oldest still functional organ pipes in Alsace. The instrument has 36 registers on three manuals and a pedal .
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- Coupling: II / I, I / P
The rose window of the facade (14th century) behind it is the most complex in Alsace in terms of the number of lancets (20) and the overall design, even before that of the Strasbourg cathedral (16 lancets). The rest of the interior is mainly neo-Gothic , with the exception of the baptismal font , the sacrament house (next to that of the St. George's Church in Haguenau, one of the highest in Alsace) and the grave of the knight Werner Falk.
literature
- Ehrhart, Jacques (with Gérard Michel): Nouveau guide architectural et spirituel de Notre-Dame de l'Assomption , Imprimerie Rugé, Mulhouse, without indication of the year of printing, distributed by the parish of Rouffach
Individual evidence
- ↑ More information on the organ ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)
Web links
- Exterior and interior views (French)
Coordinates: 47 ° 57 ′ 24 ″ N , 7 ° 18 ′ 2 ″ E