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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The funeral monument of the Strauss-Durckheim family was erected around 1850 in the enclosure of the Peace Church in Frœschwiller (Bas-Rhin), when the family castle was sold to a cousin, Ferdinand Eckbrecht of Durckheim. This memorial, composed of an obelisk on a square pedestal adorned with fasciculated pilasters, is surrounded by a wrought iron fence with sandstone pedestals. The names of five family members, engraved on a bas-relief in pink sandstone, are inscribed there: Charles Frédéric Straus (1742–24), Louise Françoise Straus (1747–35), Charles Théodore Straus-Durckheim (1783–49), Erasmus Maximilien Straus-Durckheim (1786–53), and Hercule Eugène Grégoire Straus-Durckheim (1796–65).

The monument is located between the bedside of the Peace Church – a Lutheran temple rebuilt after 1870 by the German authorities following its destruction during the Franco-Prussian war – and the Eckbrecht Castle in Durckheim. The church, classified as a historical monument in 2022, and the funeral monument, registered in 2020, bear witness to the Alsatian Protestant history and the links between the local noble families. The region, marked by the Battle of Frœschwiller-Wœrth (1870), saw its architectural heritage profoundly transformed under German administration, with reconstructions financed by national donations.

The neo-classical style of the monument, with its obelisk and sculpted sandstone details, reflects the aesthetic codes of the 19th century, while its location in the ecclesiastical enclosure emphasizes the social and memorial role of the Alsatian aristocratic families. Although the monument has been communal property since its protection, its history remains inseparable from that of the castle and the church, both symbols of the political and religious changes of Alsace between the 18th and 19th centuries.

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