Chapelle Saint-Nicolas

Presentation

This former parish church in Ottrott-le-Bas was built in the 12th century by the parents of Gertrude de Rathsamhausen. The foundations, the choir (interior arcades), the main porch and the south pediment still remain from the Romanesque period.

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Associated locations

Practical info

Château-fort de Rathsamhausen

Presentation

A former Xth century fortified castle standing 500 metres above sea level, its remains now overlook the village of Ottrot. It now comprises a residential tower and a cylindrical keep. Its ruins are listed as a historic monument.

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Couvent du Mont Sainte-Odile

Presentation

The Abbey of Mont Saint-Odile, founded according to tradition in 680 by Sainte-Odile, daughter of the Duke of Alsace, on the site of Hohenbourg, retains some magnificent Romanesque features. The Chapelle Saint-Jean-Baptiste, where Odile’s sarcophagus is located, dates from the very early 11th century (Romanesque lintel decorated with palmette branches and rosettes). The slightly later Chapelle Sainte-Croix has a magnificent central pillar whose capital is decorated with palmettes and 4 grimacing masks in the corners (two of which are sticking out their tongues at us). These four heads are matched by hands sculpted on the base of the column. The convent also has a beautiful historiated stele, a vestige of the former cloister. It dates from the second half of the 12th century (c.1167). It depicts the Virgin and Child with two abbesses of Hohenbourg, Relinde and Herrade*, at her feet. In adoration, they hold out a book to her (we are tempted to see the Hortus Deliciarum* but it is probably a donation charter). The second side shows Saint Leger, and the third shows the Duke of Alsace, Etichon, handing over the deed of foundation of the monastery to his daughter, Odile. This stele is probably the work of the sculptor or workshop that worked in Rosheim.

We owe the famous Hortus Deliciarum to Relinde and Herrade (1167-1196), abbesses of Hohenbourg appointed by the Hohenstauffens. Destroyed in the bombardment of the Strasbourg Library in August 1870, the Garden of Delights was not only the most beautiful manuscript in Romanesque Alsace: it was also one of the greatest art treasures of the Middle Ages. The tracings and copies made before the destruction give an idea of what was lost and, despite everything, allow us to keep the memory alive.

The Hortus Deliciarum, or Garden of Delights (‘Paradise’), is one of the most famous manuscripts of the Middle Ages. Produced under the direction of Abbess Herrade (c. 1167/1176- 1191/1195), it is an encyclopaedia designed to train the nuns of Hohenbourg Abbey. It consisted of 342 folios, on which illuminators had painted 336 miniatures depicting almost 7,000 characters. The text itself is a Christian anthology divided into four main sections: the Old Testament, the New Testament, religious life and salvation. In all, Herrade selected 1,160 extracts from around fifty authors.

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Chapelle Saint-Jacques

Presentation

Tradition has it that this chapel was founded in the 9th century by the five knights who accompanied the camel carrying the relics of the Holy Cross. The animal, free to choose its own route, is said to have made its first stop at this chapel before taking up residence in Niedermunster. Situated 300 m from the chapel, it is also contemporary with it (12th century). In the 18th century, it was used as a tenant farm, then as a forest house before being destroyed in 1814. The 1.5-metre-high remains identify a rectangular nave with two bays and a square choir. Some remains suggest that the building was covered by a ribbed vault with double arches. Legend has it that the large stones protruding from the ground in the middle of the nave were deliberately left to resemble the humps of a camel.

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