Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux, mentioned since 1130, is built along a major Roman way of Strasbourg. Merovingian remains remain, while the current Gothic building was erected between 1381 and 1428. She became Protestant in 1529 during the Reformation, suffering iconoclastic destructions such as the suppression of altars and the bandaging of murals by Pastor Thiébaut Schwartz.

In 1683, after the conquest of Strasbourg by Louis XIV, the church became a simultaneum: the choir was restored to Catholics, separated from the Protestant nave by a wall. This division lasted until 1900, when the medieval choir was demolished to build a perpendicular Catholic church, while retaining the original bell tower. The ceilinged Protestant nave houses an organ of the Silbermann brothers (1709) and a stand decorated in 1727.

In the 19th century, the Protestant church temporarily welcomed the faithful of the Neuf Temple destroyed in 1870. In 1898, a new organ was installed by Eberhard Friedrich Walcker. After 2012, Protestant worship ceased in the building, which was transformed into an experimental NooToos space in 2018: coworking, cultural events and places of conviviality replaced traditional benches. The Catholic part, rebuilt in 1867 by architect Conrath, preserves relics attributed to Saint Brigide.

The building, inscribed in the Historical Monuments since 1981, illustrates Alsatian religious tensions. Its strategic location, between the Grand Street and the 22nd Street, still materializes today the physical separation of cults. The classified objects, such as the engraved panels of Veit Wagner (15th century) or Henri Lutzelmann's paintings, bear witness to his rich artistic heritage.

During the Revolution, the church was closed (1793-1795) and used as a meat depot for the troops, accelerating its degradation. In the 20th century, the symbolic door opened in the separation wall (2012) marks reconciliation, while the Protestant space reinvents itself as a hybrid place, between religious memory and social innovation.

External links