three

The third field trip of the year was the annual parish day trip and it came with the usual emotional roller coaster: when M. sent me the itinerary I was super excited (finally, after two years, I'm feeling up to this!), but when the morning arrived my stomach was in knots, and as I ascended onto the bus full of senior citizens (here again there is some secret Swiss rule at work: I was *definitely not late* but when I arrived everyone was already on the bus and settled in?) I thought oh no, what have I done... There followed an awkward coffee stop at which I managed to spill a whole napkin full of croissant crumbs into my lap, so things weren't looking good, but after that we pulled up to the first church on the tour and suddenly it was all worth it. I may be the only middle-aged mom on the field trip, but that is because all the other middle-aged moms are missing out! At least that's the story I'm trying to tell myself. So without further ado: three amazing churches in Alsace.

#1: Ottmarsheim. The Ottmarsheim Abbey church is an octagonal structure going on 1000 years old, patterned after the Palatine Chapel in Aachen (which is hereby going on the bucket list) and endowed by Rudolf von Altenburg, one of the founders of the Habsburg dynasty. During restoration work in 1981, archeologists discovered his sarcophagus buried smack in the middle of the church. The prize for the best web page in English about this goes to this guy: I *so* wanted to lie on the floor to get a picture of the 15th-century fresco of the four evangelists, but couldn't quite bring myself to do it, so click through to check it out.

Here you can see the original form of the church and the various chapels that were added later.

Here too. Yay for evacuation plans in interesting buildings! At one point, the nuns from the attached Benedictine convent prayed from the balcony, but in the Counter-Reformation they were relegated to the larger gated-off chapel on the bottom right side of the first-floor plan.

the view from the back of the church...

...and from the front (the organ was built in 1999 to replace one that was destroyed in a fire; the wooden structure in front of it was relocated from a convent in Switzerland that was being torn down...at least I think that's what our tour guide said).

side chapel and baptismal font

no idea how old this is...but that shell!

Something about the spring day and the red/yellow stone and the unusual shape of the church made it feel very cozy. I hope this thing has another 1000 years of life in it.

#2: Murbach. Our prize winner also has a page about this, although there's a Wikipedia page in English this time too. Bottom line: on the road to nowhere in a lost valley of the Vosges mountains, there's the choir of an *enormous* church that dates back to the 8th century...but only the choir because the nave was destroyed and used as a quarry; it's now a graveyard.

It's huuuuuge from the front...

...but ends abruptly at the back.

inside. I don't know whether the windows are modern or exceedingly old and faded; in either case they are moldy, and the local government is trying to raise funds to fix the leaks.

My grasp of history is so bad I can't even begin to place this in context, but somehow Murbach Abbey was instrumental in the founding of the city of Lucerne. Also, "In 1789 the abbey was dissolved after having been looted by rioting peasants" (Wikipedia). We had lunch near here at a restaurant that opened especially for our tour group - "a fast as God intended," which is to say that my Lenten intentions to avoid sugar and alcohol and caffeine were looted by rioting peasants, but it was all delicious. I dozed off on the way to...

#3: Thann. Which...I guess all these places have more tourist traffic in the summer, but on the first Friday of April all you'd have to do is magic the cars away and it would be like stepping into a story book about the Middle Ages. According to legend, a disciple of St. Ubald of Gubbio (Theobald / Thiebaud, 1080-1160) was wandering around with the ring and miraculously-attached finger of his recently-deceased master, as one does. When he stopped to rest for the night in the forest of Thann (as in Tannenbaum), his staff containing the relic remained fixed to the spot, and that was the sign that a church should be built here in St. Ubald's honor. The first record of a church here is from 1287; construction on the current structure started in 1332. Thann became a popular destination for pilgrims in the middle ages (check this out!) and it's pretty clear why it still draws tourists today.

somewhere on the river Thur, there's a peaceful town...

...with a stunning church, the Collégiale Saint-Thiébaut de Thann. The western façade has over 400 sculpted figures depicting the life of Mary, scenes from the Bible, and saints known and unknown.

up close...you just want to get closer

more exterior - the little streets make it impossible to be far away enough from the church to take a straight-on photo (see some beautiful ones of the whole church here)

still looking up

inside

on the left side of the nave

on the right side, a chapel to Mary

and one to St. Ubald. I think his finger is in there somewhere.

By quitting my job at church I've sabotaged my chance to go on the other two church field trips, which are for employees only, so I'm going to have to learn to design my own. Trial by fire: during spring break Ch. and I are going to Venice for three days! That's going to be an emotional rollercoaster of its own, but I hope I'll be reporting back soon.