Colmar
Photos from April 23, 1991
Colmar
(German Kolmar), city in northeastern France, capital of Haut-Rhin Department, on a plain near the Vosges Mountains, on the Lauch River, in Alsace. It is a port (linked by canal with the nearby Rhine River) and a manufacturing center; products include textiles, machinery, and processed food.
old town corner
Points of interest are the Church of Saint Martin (13th-15th century), containing the 15th-century painting Madonna of the Rose Arbor, by Martin Schongauer (who lived in the city); the Unterlinden Museum, the holdings of which include the 16th-century Isenheim altarpiece, by the painter Matthias Grünewald; and the home (now a museum) of the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who produced Liberty Enlightening the World (the Statue of Liberty) in New York City.
Christmas markets in 2006
Founded by the 9th century AD, Colmar became a free city of the Holy Roman Empire in 1226 and passed to the French crown in the 17th century. It was held by Germany from 1871 to 1919 and again from 1940 to 1945, during World War II. Population (1999) 65,136.
old town
Medieval corner
Maison Pfeister in Colmar
well
instructions for dogs?
Bartholdi, Frédéric-Auguste
(1834-1904), French sculptor, best known for the creation of the Statue of Liberty, located on Liberty Island in the harbor of New York City.
museum poster
Bartholdi was born in Colmar in Alsace, France. He received training there and in Paris as an architect. He also studied painting in Paris, and in 1855 he traveled to the Middle East to continue his studies. However, Bartholdi was soon devoting his energy to sculpture. His main interest was monumental sculpture, particularly large-scale pieces glorifying heroic ideas, personalities, and events. His architectural training served him well in sculpting, enabling him to handle successfully some extremely difficult problems of structure and materials.
the museum
(formerly his residence)
building in old town
Another Bartholdi monument, possibly his greatest tour de force, is the Lion of Belfort, completed in 1880. Located in Belfort, France, the statue is carved out of the red sandstone of a hill towering over the city. The huge statue honors the defense of Belfort in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Other Bartholdi sculptures include a double statue of the French military leader Marquis de Lafayette with former United States president George Washington (1873), located in the Place des États-Unis in Paris, and Lafayette Arriving in America (1875) at Union Square in New York City.
boys trying to hold back the water in the fountain
the theater
