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Origin and history

The Saint-Blaise church of Sindelsberg, located in Marmoutier (Bas-Rhin), was founded in the 12th century as a chapel of the Benedictine convent of Sindelsberg, dependent on the Abbey of Marmoutier. Consecrated in 1137, it was rebuilt in the 14th century (choir and apse vaulted dogives) and reworked again after the destruction of the Peasants' War (1525). The present nave, shorter than the original, dates from the 3rd quarter of the 16th century, under the impulse of Abbé Gisbert Agricola, who also erected his cenotaph in 1586.

The frescoes of the abside, rediscovered in 1969, date from the late 16th century and are inspired by Flemish models, such as Michelangelo's Pietà. They represent a Throne of Grace, angels carrying the Arma Christi, and saints (probably Saint Benedict). The monument was partially protected in 1935 (heart and cenotaph), then restored from 1968, also revealing traces of the lost convent, founded in 1115 and dissolved in 1488.

The church, dedicated to Saint Blaise, housed an annual pilgrimage on February 3, including the blessing of the gorges (Blasiusegen). This cult persisted after the suppression of the convent, linked to the conservation of relics in Marmoutier. The facade was restored in 1872, and the sacristy was added at the end of the 19th century. Today, the site preserves Romanesque elements (walled doors), Gothic (voûts) and Renaissance (castle of 1619), testifying to its turbulent history.

The furniture, mostly from the eighteenth century, includes altars, a pulpit, and ancient statues (Vierge à l'Enfant, Pietà). Gisbert Agricola's cenotaph, in polychrome sandstone, adorned with the symbols of evangelists and angels, celebrates its role in reconstruction. Remnants of the convent (the 12th century column base) were discovered in 1913, confirming the original extent of the site, much larger than the present church.

The murals, studied by Roger Lehni (1970), reveal a north-alpine influence, with architectural decorations (canned columns, coiled leather) and a rare iconography in Alsace. Their unequal state of conservation required partial bandages, as for the chorus tetramorph, now covered. The building, a communal property, illustrates the stylistic transitions between Roman, Gothic and Renaissance in Alsace, in a context marked by religious conflicts and successive reconstructions.

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