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Origin and history

The chapel of Santiago de Mutzig, located in the Lower Rhine in the Grand East region, was built between 1626 and 1627 under the impulse of Jacques de Landsberg and his wife Amélie Zand de Merl. It pays tribute to St. James the Minor, as indicated by the dates engraved on the southern lintel, the upper relief, and the angle chains. Originally, it replaced a village that had disappeared in the 14th century, Wege (or Weykirchel), and was surrounded by a funeral enclosure. A hermit, housed above the porch, maintained it until the 19th century.

The building, with an elongated plan, consists of a single nave opening onto a semicircular bedside with three cut panels, covered with a double-pan roof. Its north and south facades feature rectangular portals (the southern one surmounted by a carved bas-relief) and broken arched bays. A bellpiece cap the ridge, while an exterior staircase leads to the first floor of the porch, once inhabited. The chapel, classified as a historic monument in 1931, was restored between 1982 and 1985 after its donation to the parish of Mutzig in 1866 by Nicolas Schir, vicar general.

Founded as a place of worship and memory, the chapel illustrates the seventeenth century Alsatian religious architecture, mixing structural simplicity and ornamental details. Its isolation in the meadows and its history related to the family of Landsberg make it a rare testimony of the devout and funeral practices of the era. The intertwined mouldings of the doors, the stud windows, and the exposed ceiling highlight its utilitarian and symbolic character.

The site, originally associated with a small cemetery, lost this function over the centuries, but retained its spiritual role. The modern restoration preserved its original elements, including the engraved dates (1626–27) and the weapons of the founders, now visible. The chapel remains communal property and bears witness to the piety of the local elites under the Old Regime.

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