9 Best Sights in Alsace-Lorraine, France

Dark pink, ornately carved Vosges sandstone covers the facade of this most novel and Germanic of French cathedrals, a triumph of Gothic art begun in 1176. Not content with the outlines of the walls themselves, medieval builders lacily encased them with slender stone shafts. The off-center spire, finished in 1439, looks absurdly fragile as it tapers skyward some 466 feet. You can climb 330 steps to the base of the spire for sweeping views of the city, the Vosges Mountains, and the Black Forest.

The interior presents a stark contrast to the facade: it's older (mostly finished by 1275), and the nave's broad windows emphasize the horizontal rather than the vertical. Note Hans Hammer's ornately sculpted pulpit (1485) and the richly painted 14th- to 15th-century organ loft that rises from pillar to ceiling. The left side of the nave is flanked with richly colored Gothic windows honoring the early leaders of the Holy Roman Empire—Otto I and II and Heinrich I and II. The choir is not ablaze with stained glass but framed by chunky Romanesque masonry. Head to the right transept to admire the Pilier des Anges (Angels' Pillar), an intricate Gothic column dating from around 1230.

Just behind the pillar, the Renaissance machinery of the imposing 16th-century Horloge Astronomique whirs into action daily at 12:30 pm (but the line starts at the south door at 11:45 am) with macabre clockwork figures enacting the story of Christ's Passion. One of the highlights: when the apostles walk past, a likeness of Christ as a rooster crows three times.

Dominating the 18th-century Place d’Armes, this Gothic masterpiece rises almost 300 feet above the city, its grandeur amplified by soaring flying buttresses, menacing gargoyles, and elaborate stone carvings on its two portals. The slightly grimy interior only serves to accentuate the beauty of its 70,000 square feet of stained glass windows, dappling colored light inside the nave and earning the cathedral the moniker of “God’s Lantern.” In the ambulatory, Chagall’s 1960 stained glass depicts Old Testament scenes in a flurry of blues and reds, while an illuminating yellow dominates his north transept take on the Garden of Eden.

This vast, frigid edifice was completed in the 1740s in a ponderous Baroque style, eased in part by the florid ironwork of Jean Lamour. The most notable interior feature is a murky 18th-century fresco in the dome. The Trésor (Treasury) contains minute 10th-century splendors carved of ivory and gold but is only open to the public on rare occasions.

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).

Combining Roman, Gothic, and Baroque styles, this small church is noteworthy for Jean Cocteau’s avant-garde stained-glass windows, the artist's last major work before his death in 1963. Eschewing religious themes in favor of Greco-Roman myth and shamanism, Cocteau used pastel shades and abstract designs that hint at Cubism. The right window in the chapel features a self-portrait, with figures on the left window thought to represent conflicting aspects of the artist’s personality.

A 275-foot spire towers over this splendid neo-Gothic church, completed in 1451 and rebuilt in the 1860s. Most of the 2,800 square yards of stained glass were created by the Geyling workshop in Vienna while many carvings are the work of Margraff of Munich. The heaviest of the eight bells was cast in Budapest, and the organ, though manufactured by Merklin of Paris, was inaugurated in 1869 by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. It is only open to the public on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons.

The church of St-Foy dates from between 1152 and 1190. Its Romanesque facade remains largely intact (the spires were added in the 19th century), as does the 140-foot octagonal tower over the crossing. Sadly, the interior has been mangled over the centuries, chiefly by the Jesuits, whose most inspired legacy is the Baroque, 1733 pulpit depicting the life of St-Francis Xavier. Note the Romanesque bas-relief next to the baptistery, originally the lid of a sarcophagus.

The twin spires of this parish church compete with the belfry for skyline preeminence. Like the rest of the sanctuary, the spires date from the 1860s, although the 1504 Holy Sepulchre altarpiece in the north transept is a survivor from the previous church.