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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Saint-Grégoire church of Ribeauvillé, located in the Upper Rhine, is a Gothic building dating back to the second half of the 13th century. Its construction began in 1282 with the choir, coinciding with the elevation of Ribeauvillé to the rank of city and the construction of its fortifications. The bell tower, partially built from this time on, has stylistic features from the middle of the thirteenth century. The nave, erected in the 14th century, shows an inhomogeneity suggesting an interruption of the works around 1320, before their resumption between 1380 and 1400. The vaults, initially absent, were added between 1465 and 1475, when the work was officially completed.

In the 17th century, the church underwent modifications related to the Counter-Reform, with the suppression of many altars in the nave. During the Revolution, it was looted, briefly transformed into a temple of Reason, and then returned to Catholic worship. In the 19th century, the choir, which had become dangerous, was demolished in 1876 and rebuilt by architect Charles Winkler, who added a transept and enlarged the nave westward. The new choir was consecrated in 1877. The building, damaged during World War II (1944), was restored in the 1950s with the replacement of the destroyed stained glass windows.

The bell tower, atypically positioned north of the choir, dates from the 13th century and was raised in 1864. It houses a clock installed by Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué in 1842 and recast bells after the requisitions of the two world wars. The church preserves remarkable furniture, including a 15th century Virgin with the Child (the Virgin of Glassware), listed as a historic monument in 1978, and a neogothic ostensoir of 1803. Former burial place of the lords of Ribeaupierre, it was richly endowed with relics and liturgical objects, today widely dispersed.

Ranked a historical monument in 1994, the church illustrates the architectural and religious evolution of Alsace, marked by phases of destruction, reconstruction and adaptation to political and cultural contexts. Its history also reflects the close links between the city, the Munster Abbey and the Ribeaupierre family, many of which participated in the crusades or fire of gifts to the church treasure.

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