Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur (Hunawihr)

View from the southwest

The simultaneous church of Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur ( St. James the Elder ) is a fortified church from the 14th century that towers over the Alsatian town of Hunawihr and is its main attraction. The church was classified as a Monument historique in 1929 . It was built on the remains of a previous building from the 10th century.

history

The foundation of the church or the previous building should be based on St. Huna, who, according to legend, washed the clothes of the sick at a well at the foot of the church. Excavations in the 1980s revealed the foundations of a smaller building from the 11th century in the choir and central nave, as well as the remains of a Romanesque altar. During these excavations, the assumption was confirmed that the pastor Michael Härter, who died in Hunawihr in 1750, was buried in the choir.

The first documentary mention of the church and the village was in 1114 in a letter of protection from Emperor Henry V to the church of Saint-Diedolt (today Saint-Dié-des-Vosges ). During the Middle Ages, pilgrimages to the grave of St. Huna very well attended in the church and contributed to the wealth of the village. However, part of the not inconsiderable income had to be transferred to Saint-Diedolt.

On April 15, 1520, the canonization of Huna took place with the participation of the population (estimated: 20,000 people) and in the presence of high clergy, in connection with a papal indulgence , which brought the parish a considerable amount of money for the necessary repair of the church.

After the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War and the French Revolution , from which Hunawihr and his church also suffered, calm returned: the church tower roof was renewed in 1806 and received its hexagonal shape. In the middle of the 1820s, the ring and cemetery walls were repaired and today's access gate with two iron wings and the five-step staircase were installed. In the middle of the 1850s, the plaster ceiling of the nave was renewed and a large part of the sandstone tiles throughout the church. A small door in the south wall was closed and the benches, stairs and doors that still exist today were installed.

The most recent renovations took place in the 1980s: 1985/86 roof and beams, 1987/88 interior fittings, choir, heating, sandstone floor, painting and ceiling paintings. 1989/90 the organ.

location

The church is located in the southeast of the town center on a hill and is surrounded by a cemetery wall, which is one of the most beautiful of its kind in Alsace and the neighboring areas.

Outside the cemetery wall is the Protestant cemetery. The church is used as a simultaneous church; services of both faiths take place in it. The church has had this status since the end of the 17th century.

Before you get to the curtain wall, walk through a short stone staircase, next to which there is a memorial to the dead on the right, a straight path, on the left of which the mentioned Evangelical cemetery is laid out.

Curtain wall

The hexagonal enclosure wall is fixed at each corner by a three-quarter circular bastion . You enter the area from the north through a portal in the wall, which is the remains of a defensive tower with the sliding tracks of a portcullis and two shooting shafts. Dating back to the 13th century, this is probably the oldest part of the complex. The wall surrounds the church and the inner, Catholic cemetery. In the middle part of the western section of the wall there are traces of an earlier main entrance to the churchyard. This gate was opposite today's main portal of the church. Residents could seek protection behind the wall in the event of impending danger. The wall was renewed in the 16th century.

North side with entrance gate
West side
View of the one-hand tower clock on the north side of the tower

Steeple

The massive church tower is the oldest part of today's church and dates from the 14th century. It has two storeys and has a tower clock on its north and east side, each with only one hand, an hour hand decorated with grapes.

The inner

You enter the church through a side portal of the nave on the north side. The church was probably planned as a three-aisled pilgrimage church, but was not completed because of the Reformation turmoil. Two pillars stand in the northern third of the main nave, while one, which carries the pulpit, stands in the southern third.

Between the main and the small south aisles is the pulpit, which is built into a supporting column so that the preacher can climb up through the column. The east wall of the aisle bears a painting by the painter Charles Corty from Rappoltsweiler (1757–1836). It shows Saint James the Elder on the way to his execution by the sword. The informer kneels in front of him and asks his forgiveness.

Pulpit pillar
View into the choir and the aisle
West side with organ gallery and portal
organ
Choir with church windows
Old bell on the tower floor

At the east end of the main nave is the choir with the main altar from the 18th century and three Gothic church windows. The middle one from the middle of the 19th century shows St. James and St. Huna. The choir is spanned by a cross vault that contains a fine network that is supported by consoles with family crests. An inscription on one of the coats of arms shows the year 1524. The keystones show the coat of arms of the Empire as well as those of the Spanish rulers of the Habsburgs and Württemberg. A side door on the south side of the choir leads into the sacristy, the door is inscribed with the year 1525. In the crypt under the sacristy there is a chapel with a square floor plan. Until the Reformation, the relics of St. Huna, who was canonized by Pope Leo X. in 1520.

The walls of the lower floor of the tower are adorned with frescoes from the 15th century, which were uncovered in 1879. There are a total of 14 amazingly well-preserved representations in two rows one above the other, depicting the life of St. Describing Nicholas and the miracles after his death. The bell tower houses the oldest and largest of the three bells made in the Strasbourg bell foundry in 1700 on the ground floor. Since it was torn, it had to be replaced in 1970, but it was kept in this place as a witness for three centuries. The bell bears the German inscription:
If you, O Christ, hear my sound, go
to church.

On the west side of the main nave you can see the organ loft above the old (?) Main portal. The instrument is the work of the two Alsatian organ builders Louis Dubois and Jacques Besançon and was completed around 1765. Because of a pipe theft in 1803, it was renewed by Joseph Rabiny and François Callinet and completely renovated in 1900 by Gaston Kern.

Pictures and description of the frescoes

See also: The Legends of Nicholas

Dowry for three virgins whose father wanted to force them into prostitution (excerpt from the next motif)
Above left: as above,
below left: Resurrection of the Scholars,
Below Mi: unclear
Above Mi: election as Bishop of Myra
Above right: calming the storm at sea
Below right: a robber baron persecuted by knights can with the help of Nicholas' jump into the Danube
Calming the storm at sea
Lending money to a Jew
Coronation of St. Virgin (or St. Huna)
View with cross vaults and frescoes