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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The municipal theatre of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, located at 2 Osmont Street in the Haut-Rhin, was built between 1906 and 1908 by the Strasbourg architect Gustave Oberthür, in a neo-Louis XVI style. Commanded by the city to celebrate its textile industry-related prosperity, it was inaugurated on 23 February 1908 after 22 months of work by the entrepreneur Schroth. Its initial budget amounted to DM 170 000, a sum reflecting municipal ambition. The facade, decorated with pilasters and frontons, bears the names of the engraved artisans: "G.Oberthür arch. / Geb.Schroth Baugeschaft".

The interior decoration was entrusted to the artists Marie-Paul Braunagel (painting) and Auguste Cammissar (painting glass), members of the circle of Saint-Léonard in Strasbourg. Their works, such as the stained glass windows and the golden stuccs of the hall, combine local symbols (Blasons of Ribeauvillé and Lorraine, emblem of miners) and lyrical motifs. The theatre, with 520 seats, became a major cultural place, before being transformed into a military hospital during the First World War. Subsequent changes (deletion of the lantern, closure of the bays for a cinema) partially altered its original appearance.

Ranked a historic monument in 1987, the theatre protects its remarkable elements: facades, roofs, entrance hall, concert hall with its painted arched balcony, and wrought iron stairs. The copper luminaires, the terrazzo floor of the hall, and the stained glass windows (masked inside but visible from the outside) testify to its authenticity. Three restoration campaigns (1980, 1990, 2000) preserved this heritage, a symbol of the industrial and artistic golden age of the valley.

The building also illustrates the turbulent history of Alsace: the weapons of Lorraine and Ribeauvillé on the stage curtain recall its past membership in these seigneuries, while the emblem of miners honours the mining activities of the sixteenth century, the economic foundation of the region. Today, a communal property remains an architectural and social testimony of the first twentieth century in the Great East.

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