7 Best Sights in Colmar, Alsace-Lorraine

The cultural highlight of Colmar is the Musée d'Unterlinden; once a Dominican convent and a hotbed of Rhenish mysticism, the building's star attraction is one of the greatest altarpieces of the 16th century, the Retable d'Issenheim (1512–16), by Matthias Grünewald, which is displayed in the convent's Gothic chapel. Originally painted for the convent at Issenheim, 22 km (14 miles) south of Colmar, the multipanel work is either the last gasp of medievalism or a breathtaking preview of modernism and all its neuroses. Replete with raw realism (note the chamber pots, boil-covered bellies, and dirty linen), Grünewald's altarpiece was believed to have miraculous healing powers over ergotism. Widespread in the Middle Ages, this malady was caused by ingesting fungus-ridden grains, and its victims—many of whom were being nursed at the Issenheim convent—experienced delusional, nearly hallucinogenic fantasies.

Arms and armor are among the treasures in the enchanting 13th-century cloister. Upstairs are fine regional furnishings and a collection of Rhine Valley paintings from the Renaissance, among them Martin Schongauer's opulent 1470 altarpiece painted for Jean d'Orlier. A copper-roofed wing has three floors dedicated to modern and contemporary art (including the Guernica tapestry by Jacqueline de La Baume-Dürbach), as well as temporary exhibition space.

Built between 1235 and 1365, this collegiate church is essentially Gothic (the Renaissance bell tower was added in 1572 following a fire). There are some interesting medieval sculptures on the exterior, and the interior, which was heavily vandalized during the Revolution, includes an ambulatory, a rare feature in Alsatian sanctuaries.

The Flemish-influenced Madonna of the Rosebush (1473), noted German artist Martin Schongauer's most celebrated painting, hangs in the Église des Dominicains. Stolen from St-Martin's in 1972 and later recovered, the work has almost certainly been reduced in size from its original state. It nevertheless still makes an enormous impact. The grace and intensity of the Virgin match that of the Christ Child, yet her slender fingers dent the child's soft flesh (and his fingers entwine her curls) with immediate intimacy. Schongauer's text for her crown is: Me carpes genito tuo o santissima virgo (Choose me also for your child, O holiest Virgin).

To find Colmar at its most charming, wander along the calm canals that wind through La Petite Venise, an area of bright Alsatian houses with colorful shutters and window boxes that's south of the center of town. Here, amid half-timber buildings bedecked with flowers and willow trees that weep into the eddies of the Lauch River, you have the sense of being in a tiny village.

Up the street from the Ancienne Douane on the Grande-Rue, the Maison aux Arcades was built in 1609 in High Renaissance style with a series of arched porches (arcades) anchored by two octagonal towers.

Built in 1537, the Maison Pfister is the most striking of Colmar's many old dwellings. Note the decorative frescoes and medallions, carved balcony, and ground-floor arcades.

The Bartholdi Museum is the birthplace of Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904), the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty. Exhibits of the artist's work claim the ground floor, and a recreation of his Paris apartment is upstairs. The creation of Lady Liberty is explored in adjoining rooms.