Origin and history
The Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativity church of Saverne, located in the Lower Rhine, is a complex building whose construction runs from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. Originally a parish church dedicated to Saint Barthélemy and Saint Ulrich, it was raised to the rank of collegiate in 1485 under the name of the Nativity of the Virgin, before losing this status to the French Revolution. Its architecture juxtaposes Romanesque elements, such as the 12th century bell tower-porch, and Gothic, with a 14th century choir and a nave redesigned in the 15th and 16th centuries. The building also houses notable annexes, including an ossuary crypt surmounted by a Saint-Michel chapel and a Renaissance gallery converted into a sacristy.
The first written mention of the church dates back to 1285, although architectural clues suggest an origin around the middle of the 12th century, linked to the affirmation of the Strasbourg episcopal domination over Saverne. In the 14th century, a first gothic campaign transformed the choir and raised the nave, while a second campaign, at the end of the 15th century, added a northern collateral and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin, housing the tomb of Bishop Albert of Bavaria. The latter, the key figure of transformations, also controls the vault of the nave and the jube. The Renaissance Gallery, built in 1539 for Bishop William of Honstein, links the ossuary to the chapel of St Michael and houses a library upstairs.
The church, classified as a Historic Monument in 1977, has undergone major changes over the centuries, including the destruction of its Gothic arrow in 1760 and revolutionary degradations, such as the looting of episcopal tombs. In the 19th century, controversial restorations, including the demolition of the Ritterstube and neo-Gothic modifications, altered its appearance. Despite these transformations, the building retains remarkable elements, such as stained glass windows, sculptures attributed to Nicolas de Haguenau, and classified liturgical furniture, including a chair by Hans Hammer (1495) and baptismal fonts by Hans Faber (1615).
The bell tower, symbol of the church, illustrates the stylistic superpositions: its first three levels, Romanesque, date from the 12th century, while the upper floors, redesigned in the 14th and 15th centuries, incorporate Gothic elements like trilobed bays. The choir, vaulted between 1420 and 1440, features later added foothills and armorized vault keys, reflecting successive episcopal protections. The nave, on the other hand, combines Romanesque vestiges (south wall) with a 15th century netted vault, supported by ingeniously designed pillars to avoid increasing the structure.
The church's annexes, such as the 14th-century ossuary and the chapel of Saint Michael (1456), reveal evolutionary funeral and religious uses. The chapel, originally visible from the parish cemetery, was buried under the Renaissance gallery, while the chapel, dedicated to Saint Michael, housed a museum from 1858 to 1969. The gallery itself, built by Blaise Zingg in 1539-1541, combines practical functions (circulation, library) and carved decoration, with Corinthian capitals and episcopal weapons.
The church's cultural life reflects its regional importance. In the Middle Ages, it welcomed several brotherhoods (Saint Trinity, St Sebastian) and became a centre of the Counter-Reform, with sermons of figures like Peter Canisius. After the Revolution, despite the dissolution of the fraternities and the temporary conversion into a temple of Reason, it returned to its parish role in 1799. The restorations of the 20th century, especially those of 1969-1973, aimed to restore its medieval appearance, notably by removing the neo-Gothic furniture added after 1870.
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