Floating along in Colmar, France

Colmar is a medieval village with so many canals that it’s been

Canals in 'Little Venice'

nicknamed ‘Little Venice’. It’s filled with half-timbered houses, diminutive winding lanes, and cute little shops. We spent several hours wandering the streets after getting a really good tour of the town. We wondered why the Statue of Liberty welcomed us to town until we found that its designer, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, lived here. It’s a pretty town and I’d have been happy spending substantially more time exploring.

Colmar, founded in the 9th century, was the location where the Carolingian Emperor, Charles the Fat, held meeting of the Carolingian

L to R: Farm house from the 10th Century
Half-timbered houses

dynasty in 884. Charles III (his real name) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 881 to 888, a member of the Carolingian dynasty, the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He was the last Carolingian emperor of legitimate birth and the last to rule over all the realms of the Franks. By 1266 Colmar had become a free city under Emperor Frederick II, and its economy was continuing to grow. Because of his innate humanity, Josel of Rosheim asked the Reichskammergericht court to repeal the market ban on Jewish merchants in 1548; this was also a method of supporting the Colmar economy, making it a better place to live for everyone. A short 30 years later, Colmar was no longer Roman Catholic, but had adopted the Protestant Reformation. People in the area became more educated, making it a fertile place to establish a public library, which the Schoeman family did in 1634.

France conquered Colmar under King Louis XIV in 1673 and officially

L to R: Bartholdi house, Les Grands Soutiens
du Monde, Liberty Enlightening the World

took over the town through the 1679 Treaties of Nijmegen. This was the beginning of many changes of nationality for the city. People would go to bed as French citizens but wake up as Germans. Being appropriated by warring countries went on through World War II, a span of more than 200 years. One of the citizens of Colmar who dealt with this was Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi who was born in 1834, a French citizen. He is best known for designing Liberty Enlightening the World, small versions of which had met us as we arrived in Colmar; the larger version greets visitors and immigrants as they arrive in New York City. In the States she’s better known as the Statue of Liberty. Bartholdi was only two years-old when his father died and his mother took him to live in Paris; however, since she still owned property in Colmar, they returned there often. In fact, Colmar was where Bartholdi learned to draw, taking lessons from Martin Rossbach. Once an adult, Bartholdi became a leader in the National Guard, defending Colmar from Germany during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. With the rest of Alsace, Colmar was annexed by German Empire, transforming French folks into Germans. This upset Bartholdi so he turned his art to constructing monuments that celebrated French heroism; this also paved the way for the idea of a statue as a gift from France to honor the centennial of American independence. With his works celebrated not only in Colmar but all over the world, the Colmar house in which Bartholdi was transformed into a museum in 1922. In its courtyard is one of my favorite statues, Les Grands Soutiens du Monde (The Great Supporters of the World) is an allegorical group representing Justice, Labor, and Homeland holding up the world. Just before the creation of the museum Colmar was given back to France (after World War I) by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles; it was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940; and then returned to French as a result of the battle of the ‘Colmar Pocket’ in 1945.

The metal store signs throughout the town are intriguing. As it turns out, many have more than one meaning. My favorite is for a butcher shop. It

Top L to R: Priest and Pig, Star of David
Bottom: L to R: Colorful signs, Storks

shows a girl chasing geese and a priest reading to a pig. According to our guide, the geese and the pig represent the Germans during World Wars I and II. The girl is shooing the birds out of town and the priest is trying in vain to educate the pig. As with the signs in Basel, what appears to be a Star of David referenced the vintners’ guild; however, during World War II it took on the meaning of a place that was friendly to Jews. Besides the signs, I really enjoyed seeing the storks nesting. I’d seen them before in Alsace; they are just as revered here. A breeding program has helped restore the numbers of birds; there is even a nest platform on the church in Colmar.

Street Puppeteer

©2019 NearNormal Design and Production Studio - All rights including copyright of photographs and designs, as well as intellectual rights are reserved.