Eglise des Jésuites

The Jesuit Church is a key element of the medieval town of Molsheim. It is located on the Alsace wine route, about 20 km from Strasbourg. The symbol of the Counter-Reformation Main investigator of the Counter-Reformation in Alsace, Bishop Jean de Manderscheid welcomed the Jesuits in Molsheim in 1580 and gave them the chapel and the hospital premises built in 1316 by Jean de Dürbheim, the first bishop administrator of the city. Without delay, they opened their college to students from Molsheim and the surrounding area, and in particular from Strasbourg. From 1608 on, the buildings proved to be too small and the new bishop, Archduke Leopold of Habsburg, brother of Emperor Ferdinand II, set about building a larger and more convenient college. On November 15, 1614, he decided to build a new church which he demanded to be imposing in order to demonstrate the power of Catholicism in the face of the omnipresent Protestantism in Strasbourg. Christophe Wambser was entrusted with the project management and Jean Isfording, a Jesuit rector of the college of Molsheim, was in charge of the work. The foundation stone was laid in February 1615 and the building was completed two years and nine months later. In 1765, after the dissolution of the Jesuit order, the college of Molsheim passed into the hands of the secular clergy until 1791. That year, the Jesuit church became the parish church under the vocation of Saint George, the old church being in danger of ruin. In the eyes of some observers, the church is considered the epitome of a successful hybrid construction by the Jesuits in the late Gothic style. Considered one of the largest churches in Alsace after the Cathedral of Strasbourg, it is astonishing for its clarity and its dimensions: 61.50 meters long and 21.50 meters wide and 20 meters high in the nave. The light, symbol of the divine Word for the Jesuits, flows into the building through the three rows of arched windows decorated with arches. Today, the sobriety of the nave, purified in 1970 during a restoration, contrasts with the stucco decorations and paintings of the two transepts' chapels. To see inside South chapel or chapel of the Virgin It occupies the site of the former chapel of the hospital of Saint Mary founded in 1316. Details: paintings and frescoes (1648) depicting the life of Christ, stucco (1630), original keystone (1316), recumbent of John of Dürbheim. North chapel or Saint Ignatius chapel Originally the Chapel of the Cross. Completed in 1622 for the canonization of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (1540). Details: paintings representing the life of the saint, the baptismal font (1624) from the former parish church of Saint-Georges, a slab commemorating the election of Guillaume de Diest, bishop of Strasbourg, in 1394, and on either side of it, two tombstones of noblemen's children (1402 and 1411), statues of the four evangelists. Choir With three sides, it is separated from the central nave by a real triumphal arch supported by four lions. The altar (19.50mx11m) was replaced around 1865 by a neo-gothic high altar. Details : Large stained glass windows of which the middle one (Petit Gérard-1865) represents Saint Odile patroness of Alsace, Saint Léger bishop of Autun, Saint Léon IX Alsatian pope from 1049 to 1054, Saint Richarde founder of the abbey of Andlau. Organ Built in 1781 by Jean André Silbermann. It is the only one in Alsace to have a complete echo keyboard of four octaves. Side altars Altar of St. John the Baptist with a representation of the baptism of Christ, altar of the cross with the antependium recalling the journey of the Cross of Niedermunster. Furniture Only two Renaissance style pews remain at the back of the church, finely carved doors to the galleries and tower (1618), entrance portal and sacristy portal in German Renaissance style, pulpit (1631) symbolizing the Scriptures and the Word. Tombs Many Jesuits are buried in the church, some tombstones are visible in the nave. North entrance The Carthusian Cross was transferred to Molsheim in 1598 when the Carthusian monks settled there. Erected in the communal cemetery after the Revolution, it was put up in 1970 in its present location in order to protect it from bad weather. Outside The Mount of Olives from the Charterhouse (16th century). Visit for groups on reservation at the Tourist Office