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Origin and history

The chapel Saint-Michel de Kaysersberg, located in Place Jean-Ittel in the Haut-Rhin, dates from the 15th century. It is oriented to the northeast of the parish church, at the edge of the old cemetery of the city, now transformed into a lapidary museum. Its Gothic architecture includes arches of warheads, bright bays, and a semi-subsoil ossuary accessible by doors in full hanger. The monument also retains an original structure, partially redesigned, as well as 15th and 16th century murals.

Built in 1463 (dated engraved on the west door), the chapel was backed by the city's wall, erected during the second urban expansion in the 15th century. Its ossuary, vaulted with ridges, houses bones from the old cemetery, moved out of the walls in 1511. The vaults of the chapel and ossuary bear inscriptions and dates (1469, 1514), while restoration works carried out in 1854 by architect D. Poisat and sculptor E. Meigret are attested by a commemorative plaque.

Listed as a historic monument in 1967, the Saint-Michel Chapel illustrates late Alsatian Gothic art. Its painted decorations, especially on the arch keys, include unidentified coat of arms. The ossuary, divided into two parts, served as both a burial place and a space for the services of the dead. The building, a communal property, bears witness to the urban and religious evolution of Kaysersberg between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

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