Church St Denis

The Saint-Denis de Gerstheim Catholic Church is a magnificent example of "resurrection" that has been able to draw on the roots of the past to rise from the ashes by anchoring itself in the present and turning to the future ...

Indeed, one morning of November 26, 2011, following an electric short circuit, the church consumed by the flames during most of the night, is no more than a field of ruins that observes dismayed the inhabitants of the village; it remains the walls of the water, the bell tower and the facade licked by the flames!

Quickly, thanks to the determination of the municipality and the factory council (and the budget allocated by the insurance), the construction site of the reconstruction was able to start; Renowned regional artists and artisans took turns reliving in 2 years a place of worship in which the tradition nowadays combines contemporary creation and modernity, while keeping the original church plan erected in 1869 on the same site of a 16th century church where the simultaneum was practiced ("mixed" church that welcomes both Catholics and Protestants after the attachment of Alsace to France by Louis XIV.)

The population at this time is mostly Protestant because the lord of the village had opted for the Reformation around 1546 ... In order to fit into the continuity of the past, the angles of this church were symbolized by a pink marble layout in the current floor (Croatia stone).

Inside, traditional art and contemporary art are perfectly adapted to each other, and are an invitation to meditation and contemplation. It will include stained glass windows by the artist Sylvie LANDER, inspired by Matthias Grünewald's famous Issenheim Altarpiece, or the spectacular mosaics by Gérard BRAND.