Historic Cities · France
Colmar through the ages
Colmar is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace, it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department and of the subprefecture of the Colmar-Ribeauvillé arrondissement.
Colmar in 1615
Merchants of the Wine Road
Colmar in 1615 stands at its commercial height as a prosperous imperial free city on the Alsatian wine road. The walk follows merchants, bargemen and craftsmen through timbered streets, canal quays and the trading house where last autumn's vintage is stored.
A compact medieval town hemmed by the Vosges foothills, Colmar's skyline is a patchwork of steep timber-framed houses, carved stone gables and slate or glazed-tile roofs punctured by church towers. Narrow cobbled streets slope to sinuous canals of the Lauch where barges lie level with low quays. Facades favour ochres, pink Vosges sandstone and timber darkened by age; the scale is human and densely built, with oriels and painted galleries overhanging cellar doors and workshops.
The route: 15 streets, squares and views
Vineyards above Colmar → Koïfhus (Ancienne Douane) → Grand'Rue → Maison Pfister → Maison des Têtes → Maison des Chevaliers → Place Saint-Martin → Église Saint-Martin → Quays of Petite Venise → Tanners' Gables on the Lauch → …
Step inside, 8 interiors
Upper Trading Hall · Cellar of the Great Tuns · Painted Gallery · Merchant's Counting Room · Choir and Ambulatory · Tanners' Workshop · Madonna Chapel · Cloister Walk
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Colmar.
From the archive
Colmar on paper: the old town as it was mapped.
A period plan or bird's-eye view of the old town, drawn between 1500 and 1850 — the streets this page's reconstructions walk. Public domain, with its source named.
Bird's-eye view of Colmar, from Braun & Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum
Walled medieval Colmar with curtain walls and gates, dense street blocks, a prominent central church spire and surrounding river/moat are visible.
1572 · Braun, Georg (1541-1622). Cartographe Hogenberg, Frans (1535-1590). Cartographe · Wikimedia Commons
Public domain (plate dated 1572)
Castles of Colmar
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