Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Notre Dame de l'Assomption

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. Standing next to the damaged tomb slab of Knight Werner Falk. The photo I took is pretty poor, but Phillipe Biron took a nice one: www.flickr.com/photos/biron-philippe/3794656617/ Looking through the aisle. It takes a lot of work, to preserve such an old building and keep in a good condition. Not only architects, engineers, experienced plumbers and bricklayers are involved. There are people, who mop the floors and poise feather dusters on very long bamboo sticks to clean the capitels. Without these voluntary people we would not be able to see all the beautiful churches. Merci beaucoup!

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. Work on the building started within the 11th century and continued until 1508. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution, so what is seen today is as well a result of the restauration work undertaken in the 19th century. Looking east through the long nave towards the choir. The structure of the nave is romanesque. The choir is gothic. Opposite the pulpit is the "flamboyant" gothic tabernacle.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. On the walls of the older parts of "Notre Dame de l'Assomption". are some interesting romanesque carvings. There are three sculptures, telling a story. A story I cannot tell, as I could not find the necessery parts to stitch it together and I could not find anybody in Rouffach who knew it. Here is the third of the sculptures. This man is clearly the master, lord or the king. He is sitting on a bench (throne?), under an arch, flanked by two pillars with huge capitels. He is dressed in luxury clothes, sits upright - and shadows his eyes with one hand. He is eager to see who is coming. He is obviously waiting. His face is somehow "individually" (compared to the heralds) and his posture is pretty vibrant, he is shown "in a move", compared to the other men, that are very "static". The emperor (or archbishop) is still quite far away, as he obviously is focussing onto the horizon.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. On the walls of the older parts of "Notre Dame de l'Assomption". are some interesting romanesque carvings. There are three sculptures, telling a story. A story I cannot tell, as I could not find the necessery parts to stitch it together and I could not find anybody in Rouffach who knew it. Here is the second of the sculptures. The collegue of the guy with the horn. He wears the same in simple clothing. He as well is standing under a piece of "symbolic" architecture", but here it is a zigzag arch. He could be, like his collegue, a servant, but he is holding or carrying something probably important. His left hand is "strange", there is no right arm. There is a sceptre? Or maybe a rolled document? He probably as well is a kind of herald, announcing the approaching of - the king? Or the archbishop? Or the emperor? Or the pope.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. There are some interesting romanesque carvings on the walls of the older parts of "Notre Dame de l'Assomption". Here the carver "reused" his idea, using beams protruding out of the wall. This time, there are two (half) lions. The lions are a little clumsy, compared to the man leaning on beams, on the other wall.

Rouffach - Notre Dame de l'Assomption The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. There are some interesting romanesque carvings on the walls of the older parts of "Notre Dame de l'Assomption". Here is a specific feature, as the artist who carved this, only "shows" the top part of the body. The lower part is invisible. It is stuck in the wall. This way the artist creates something like a horizonal bust, often seen later, in gothic style. To straighten the body - and let the person face the spectators, he has to hold on two beams, that stick out of the wall. Good work - and a nice idea of the carver. He used the idea at least twice at this church. See the next photo.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. There are some interesting romanesque carvings on the walls of the older parts of "Notre Dame de l'Assomption". This one, placed next to the entrance, seems to be one of the oldest. It has the typical checkered frieze on top. Well, this is not hitchhiker near the motorway. Though damaged and weathered, this is still a serious sentinel, armed with a long spear. He has lifted his arm and shows his open hand, what is a "stop-gesture", that is still used today by the police. It is strange, that somebody in the past took a lot of effort, to climb up the wall and "erase" the left arm and the spear. This may be connected to the French Revolution. During the heyday of the revolution it was probably "politically correct", to disarm the sentinel of the church. The featherlike decoration on his head - is just a cobweb.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. A mean looking little guy near one of the windows of the gothic choir. He is wearing a cloak with a hood and seems waiting for unwary spectators coming near enough - to spit on them.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. A musician is comfortably sitting on the top of a gothic spire, playing an instrument. First I saw the instrument as a bagpipe. Bagpipes have been very popular already in pre-medieval times. Here the thin blowpipe got lost over the time. Meanwhile - from the posture and the gesture of the hands - I think this is a kind of lute, having a very big belly. Anyway, the musician did not come alone to entertain the crowds in Rouffach. See his companion on the next photo.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. A lonely dog sitting on the top of a gothic spire. He seems to wait for the rising of the moon. Then he will start to whine and howl "from dusk till dawn"... As this carving is over the sacristy, added to the gothic choir, it may not be that old.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture between romanesque and gothique. The large building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. Work on the building started within the 11th century and continued until 1508. The twin-towered façade, seen here, remained unfinished. During the restauration during the 19th century it was planed to complete the facade. The works actually started at the north tower using red sandstone. Then the Franco-Prussian War stopped all works in 1870 - and the façade stayed unfinished. So, the north tower now is 56 m., while the south tower is only 42 m. high.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The oldest part is the transept,dating back to the 11th century. The nave is about 100/200 years younger, while the choir is gothic. The large building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. Many years of renovating and reconstruction during the 19th century have saved a lot. So the old crossing tower got a new helmet, reaching 68m. It was even planned to (finally) finish the gothic twin-towered façade(to the left), but the but the Franco-Prussian War stopped all these plans in 1870.

The architecture of Notre Dame de l'Assomption, the parish church of Rouffach, about 20kms south of Colmar, is a mixture of romanesque and gothique style. The pretty huge building suffered heavy damage during the French Revolution. The companion of the musician seen on the preceding photo, playing either bagpipe or lute, is on top of the next spire. The companion is a monkey! Maybe the monkey is dancing, maybe the monkey plays an instrumet as well. His hands got lost, but there is a rope going up to his neck - and this rope may have been connected to lute or other stringed instrument. Maybe the two musicians perform a duet. From the posture, the monkey is very similar to his "master". Maybe the monkey even imitates him.