Dominican Church Audio Guide

Dominican Church: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to the Dominican Church

   Welcome to the Dominican Church, known in French as the Église des Dominicains, in the historic heart of Colmar in Alsace. If you are standing in the old town, you are in exactly the right neighborhood. This is one of the city's most recognizable religious buildings, and it is a fine place to slow down. The church is a landmark of Gothic architecture, built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for the Dominican Order. Inside, it carries a double reputation. It is a quiet space of old stone and medieval glass, and it holds one of the great paintings of the Rhine region, Martin Schongauer's Madonna of the Rose Bower. Over the next few minutes we will follow the story of this building. We will see how it began, how its purpose changed over the centuries, what to look for in its architecture, and why one painting draws so many visitors. Allow roughly 30 minutes to an hour for your visit, and let's begin.

2. 02

   Friars, Foundations and an Older Church Beneath

   The story starts with the arrival of the friars. The Dominicans came to Colmar in 1278, and construction of their church began in 1283. Most of the building dates from the first half of the fourteenth century, and work continued until 1364. That is a long stretch of patient building, and it makes this church a textbook example of mendicant architecture, the style of the begging orders. The friars' presence was not always secure. In 1330 the Dominicans were temporarily driven out of the city. The church nevertheless became a key spiritual center in Colmar, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it was more than a place of prayer. It was also a hub of culture and education. The ground beneath you holds an even older chapter. In 1972, archaeologists dug out the remains of an earlier church on this site, built in Carolingian style around the year 1000. So the Gothic building you see today stands where Christians had already gathered some three centuries before the first Dominican stone was laid.

3. 03

   A Building That Changed Its Role

   Few churches have lived as many lives as this one. In 1720 a baroque decoration was installed, which made the interior less austere than it had been. The baroque choir stalls you can still see are a reminder of that softer, more ornamented era. Then came a long interruption. For most of the nineteenth century, the building was used for non-religious purposes. It became a place of worship again only in 1898. The church was restored in the early 1980s and again in the 1990s, and it now welcomes visitors as much as worshippers. The story does not stop at the church walls. The adjacent convent buildings house a section of the municipal library, so the old Dominican precinct is still a place of reading and learning. Visitors also find organ music concerts held here regularly, along with temporary exhibitions. The medieval acoustics are put to good use again.

4. 04

   Schongauer's Madonna of the Rose Bower

   Now to the reason many people come: Martin Schongauer's Madonna of the Rose Bower, painted in 1473. It is tempera on a wooden panel, about 200 centimeters tall and 115 centimeters wide, so it is a large work, and it commands the space around it. The Virgin Mary sits on the ground, a pose typical of the Madonna of Humility, holding the Christ Child in an enclosed rose garden. Art historians call that kind of garden a hortus conclusus, a walled garden that symbolizes Mary's virginity. Look at the roses and you will notice how their red echoes the red of her cloak, an echo that deepens the painting's meaning. The painting was not always here. It was displayed in the Saint Martin collegiate church until 1973, when it came to the Dominican Church. Schongauer's studio also created the Altarpiece of the Dominicans around 1475, though that work is today shown in the Unterlinden Museum, so do not look for it here. In this church, the Madonna holds the stage, along with fourteenth century stained glass windows that filter the light around her.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you move on, take one more slow look around. Notice the tall windows with their medieval glass and the pointed arches of the Gothic structure. Then look at the baroque choir stalls, which belong to a later chapter. Within one building you can read about seven centuries of changing tastes and changing uses. The church sits in the middle of Colmar's historic center, so the rest of the old town is close by. A short walk takes you toward the canals of Little Venice, the unusual facade of the House of Heads, or the Koïfhus. Saint Martin's Church, where the Madonna of the Rose Bower once hung, is nearby too, and it makes a good comparison with this quieter space. And if you have the chance, ask yourself what other buildings in this town have been abandoned, repurposed and reborn the way this one was. The streets around you are full of such stories.