Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption, Rouffach

The Church of the Assumption ( French: Église Notre- Dame de l' Assomption ) is the parish church of the town of Rouffach in southern Alsace. It is one of the largest medieval churches in the department of Haut-Rhin. The church is also known as St. Arbogast Church ( Église Saint- Arbogast ). It lies on the Roman road.

History and Architecture

The church made ​​of yellow sandstone is built in Romanesque and Gothic style. The transept dates from the second half of the 11th century, the nave of the 12th century; The nave was built in the 13th century, using the Romanesque exterior walls and side portals in early Gothic style; the choir is High Gothic.

At the building was built until 1508, the twin-towered façade remained unfinished. The rood screen erected in 1300 was demolished in the 18th century up to the two lateral stairways. The 1854 renewed tip of the octagonal crossing tower reached a height of 68 meters.

The building was during the French Revolution seriously damaged and now seems both externally and internally relatively unadorned. The large-scale structure of the church and the presence of several medieval architectural styles appear to the viewer all the more apparent. A comprehensive restoration of the building, which was undertaken by the Parisian architect Émile Maximilien mimey from 1866 had to be canceled in 1870 due to the Franco-German War. The planned increase and thereby the completion of the twin-tower facade thus it was never completed. Was supplemented only the crown of the North Tower, in pink Vosges sandstone, in striking color contrast to the tower base. The north tower thus reached its present height of 56 meters, the south tower remained high only 42 meters.

Equipment

The great façade main portal were beaten off all jamb and other sculptures during the French Revolution. On the facade gable and in the clerestory area as well as in the upper part of the apse are some works of art to see. From the championship of the sculptor, who worked on the centuries-long Rouffach construction site, testify inside some high-Gothic Figurenkapitelle, including the famous " Rouffach Smile" ( sourire de Rouffach ), which anlächelnden heads of a young man and a young woman.

Organ

Inside, the church also has a Rouffach organ from 1855, but still in the pipes can be found from a previous organ from 1626. These are the oldest still -functioning organ pipes of Alsace. The instrument has 36 registers on three manuals and pedal.

• Couplers: II / I, I / P

The rose window located behind the façade (14th century) is the number of lancets ( 20) and the overall design produces the most complex in Alsace, even before that of the Strasbourg Cathedral (16 lancets ). The rest of the equipment of the interior is up to the baptismal font, the tabernacle (next to that of Haguenau George's Church is one of the highest in Alsace ) and the Liege grave of the knight Werner Falk, predominantly neogothic.