Welcome to Colmar
Imagine that you have travelled up and down Alsace but have not included Colmar and its wine-growing industry in your visit...You will have missed an essential element of our region. Conversely, if you are only familiar with Colmar at the exclusion of the rest of Alsace, your knowledge of the region is insufficient.
Microcosmically, Colmar has assembled within its boundaries a large share of Alsatian history, artistic wealth and the wine-growing industry. The city is an important key to unlocking the realities of Alsace today.
Colmar is often compared to a historical museum. The presence of the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar is largely responsible for this comparison. This museum is home to several imperishable masterpieces from the Rhine renaissance. Colmar's past was defined by communial freedom, a proud bourgeoisie and busy corporate activity. Colmar is not simply beautiful to the eye but also to the mind as home to some important schools of thought.
The harmonious aspect of Colmar has been slowly and progressively developped over the centuries. This large city has over 100,000 inhabitants and is the site for the prefecture of the department of the Haut-Rhin as well as an appeals court. The Alsatian wine-growing industry and many important vineyards revolve around Colmar.
The inevitable consequences of being an important city in today's world is that Colmar's outskirts do not have the same cachet as the historic center of the city.
Thus, it is unfortunate when the tourist's first impression of Colmar is formed by the initial outskirts which ressemble many other cities and do not offer any particular charm.
The Colmar Legend
Colmar takes its name from the Colombarium tower which was located in the center of the Carolingien domain. Although Charlemagne and Louis le Débonnaire considered the area to be a resort they made it very powerful.
In the 12th century, the area became a fortified market town. In 1226 Frédéric II gave the city an imperial title with all the priviledges that went with such a standing. Nonetheless, the history of Colmar would be scarred by a series of conflicts with neighboring cities, such as Strasbourg.
In 1354, the Décapole was founded, this was an alliance between ten cities, and Colmar was at its head. At the same time, the municipal constitution was put in place.
During the Reformation, Catholics and Protestants passed the direction of power back and forth. All the same, in 1629, the Protestants were expulsed. In 1632, the Thirty Year's War reinstated the Protestants with the help of the Swedish troops who were occupying the city. In 1634 Richelieu's troops arrived and Louis XIII took the city under his protection.
In 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia confirmed the possesion of Alsace by France, but with certain ambiguities which made it necessary for Louis XIV to intervene. It was in 1675, that the Turenne manouver took place which chased out the Imperials.
After 1870, in response to annexation, the resistance of Colmar to German influences became legendary due to its tenacity and mischevious character.
Three personalities were particulary responsible: the priest Wetterlé, Jacques Preiss who was deputy at the Reichstag and Jean-Jacques Waltz, better known as Hansi. The latter was particularly gifted with many talents and would give his name to a poetic and humouristic image of Alsace.
As an artist he used many means of expression: watercolours and etchings, as a storywriter and historian. Through his courage and sincerity to his ideas, he entered history. The Alsace that he evoked through his visual work represents both the true and the mythical aspects of his subject whose presence is still before us today. Hansi rests in a cemetary in Colmar, not far from General Rapp who was under Napoleon.
During the last war, Colmar was caught in a zone of German resistance creating what was to be known as the "Pocket of Colmar" and whose extreme violence was infamous.
The village of Sigolsheim, whose name had been predestined as Blutberg or "Hill of Blood", was taken and retaken 17 times in one month. Entire villages were destroyed such as Mittwihr and Benwihr. Colmar escaped such destruction miraclously and can today offer one of the most charming city centers of Alsace.