The present Saint-Martin (1237–1366) replaced a 10th-century church. The transept
was built first, followed by the nave, and then the choir near the end of the 14th century.
The transept and nave seem to be the work of one architect, perhaps Master Humbert. In
fact, on the south side a statue of Master Humbert with his square drawing-board adorns
the portal of Saint-Nicolas. The nave comprises six bays, flanked by aisles on the north
and south. The 14th-century octagonal choir by Guillaume de Marbourg features three
bays, a series of interconnecting chapels, and an octagonal chevet and is surrounded by
an ambulatory, unusual for Alsace. Four columns stationed at the crossing support 15th-
century vaulting. Sculpted tympana, the Adoration of the Magi and the Last Judgment,
rose windows, and windows with triple and double lancets adorn the façades. Medieval
scuplture on display includes a 13th-century and a 14th-century Virgin and Child, figures
of the Apostles (14th c.), and Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John (14th c.).
To the northwest, the Musée d’Unterlinden incorporates the cloister and chapel of a
former Dominican monastery. The chapel contains engravings by Martin Schongauer (ca.
1420–91); panels from the altar frontal of the Dominican church by the School of
Schongauer (1480); the Bergheim predella (1460); a diptych of SS.Catherine and
Laurence; and a statue of the Annunciation (15th c.). The basement contains, among the
museum’s archaeological collection, a Gallo-Roman mosaic (3rd–4th c.).
A second Dominican church was built between 1283 and 1295. Damaged by fire in
1458 and subsequently used as a corn market, the church was completely restored in the
late 19th century. The nave, with six bays, is almost square. One of the prominent
features of the Dominican church is its stained-glass windows, which depict the life of
Christ, the saints with their attributes, and Ulrich and Agnes von Heckenheim, founders
of the monastery. In the cloister are frescoes of the Resurrection of Christ, attributed to
Urbain Huter (15th c.).
Saint-Matthieu, once a Franciscan church, is located in the north part of Colmar and
contains good 14th and 15th century glass and a 15th-century choir screen. Although its
history reaches back to the 10th century, the present chapel of Saint-Pierre is the work of
an 18th-century architect, J.J.Sarger of Colmar.
E.Kay Harris
Anstett, Peter. Das Martinsmünster zu Colmar: Beitrag zur Geschichte des gotischen Kirchenbaus
im Elsass. Berlin: Mann, 1966.
Herzog, Émile. Colmar: guide historique et artistique. Colmar: Hartmann, 1932.
COLOMBE, JEAN
(fl. late 15th c.). A prolific manuscript illuminator active in Bourges from 1463 to ca.
- Colombe is best known for the miniatures he painted in the Très Riches Heures of
the duke of Berry, left incomplete by the Limbourg brothers in 1416, which he finished
ca. 1485 for Charles I, duke of Savoy. Among numerous other manuscripts, he
illuminated the Heures de Louis de Laval (B.N. lat. 920), an Apocalypse in the Escorial
(I.B.3), and the Missal de Jean Cœur, archbishop of Bourges (New York, Pierpont
Morgan Library, Glazier 49).
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