Thursday, August 4, 2011

Eglise Sainte-Foy - Selestat

We took our first walk into the old part of Selestat and came across the church of Eglise Sainte-Foy. I've been in lots of old churches in my time, but this one really impressed.


The Wikipedia entry in English is very limited but the one in French has a lot of detail. The translation is a bit difficult to read, but you get the idea of its history.



Main entry.


The pattern on the floor at the entry appealed.


And this was amazing. I've had to doctor the photo to give you an idea of what took our breath away. The illumination of the pulpit on the left and the three windows at the far end was perfect. The rest of the church was quite plain and did not distract from the main features. We sat for quite a while taking it all in.


Much the same photo, but I didn't mess with this one. It shows the plain nature of the church.


The painted pulpit.


Looking back to the entrance and the main organ which is now disused.


Detail on the pulpit.


There was a small crypt.


The only tomb in the crypt. Somehow the photo came out with better lighting than what was actually there.


Stairway out of the crypt in surprisingly good condition.


Stained glass in one of the transepts.


Detail of the floor.


A confessional.


The choir organ.




The drain empties into the lion's back.


Pavement outside the church.



Side entrance (or exit).


Back view of the church.




Outside pavement.


What appears to be a nifty rain spout.


I'm not sure what this is.


One of two statues outside the church. I have no idea what they represent.


Graffiti on a tree beside the church. Click the photo to enlarge.


There were a number of bike racks. We saw quite a number of people of all ages cycling around Selestat.


The other outside statue. Neither seemed to be Saint Foy.

This is not the main place of worship in Selestat. There is also a cathedral which we haven't been to yet. It's only a hundred yards away but we decided to save it for another day. This is the advantage of spending three weeks in the one place. You can spread your touring out so that you don't get overloaded with the ABC syndrome. (Another Bloody Cathedral).

1 comment:

  1. It looks as though you'll still find new places to explore even after you've been there 3 weeks.
    Thanks for taking us along with you.

    ReplyDelete