Feldbach
Église Saint-Jacques
Presentation
A former Benedictine convent church under the obedience of the Abbey of Cluny, this sober building dates from the second third of the 12th century. It is built on a basilica plan with three timber-framed naves, each ending in a cul-de-four apse. The transept does not project. The façade, known as ‘Italianate’, follows the interior structure. The originality of the building lies in the way it is laid out. The first three bays of the nave, which housed the parishioners, open onto the aisles through semi-circular arches supported by columns, while the last three (eastern) bays, which housed the nuns, are solid, blocked off by a wall. The decoration at Feldbach can be distinguished from 12th-century buildings in Alsace by its foliage capitals inspired by the Corinthian style, decorated with cartouches filled with flattened sculptures, parallels of which can be found in Franche-Comté and Burgundy.
Historique : Feldbach is a Cluniac priory founded by the Count of Ferrette following a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint James, the church is the burial place of the founder and his descendants. This priory was run by the Abbey of Cluny.
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This church is what remains of a Cluniac priory founded by Frédéric 1er, Count of Ferrette, in 1145.
In the 12th century, the Sundgau, the domain of the Counts of Ferrette, became part of the bishopric of Basel. The priory of Feldbach was administered by the powerful abbey of Cluny throughout the Middle Ages. At that time, it was home to around thirty nuns. In 1790, the priory was closed and the church became exclusively a parish church.
The church at Feldbach has three naves. The chancel is made up of an apse and two apsidioles in the extension of the central nave and the aisles. The material used here is Sundgau limestone.
The free-standing bell tower is an addition built in the Romanesque Revival style in 1909. On its site and in the immediate vicinity, to the north of the church, were the convent buildings, which have now disappeared. The church was restored to its original integrity following a major renovation completed in 1977.
The rhythm of the openings, a series of oculi and round-headed bays, reflects on the outside the way the building used to be divided between the nuns and the faithful.
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