In Colmar, the Saint-Martin collegiate church reveals its secrets

Is it a cathedral or a collegiate church? Under the vaults of the Saint-Martin church, in the heart of little Venice, in Colmar (Haut-Rhin), the question is debated among tourists. “It’s a collegiate church,” replied Anne, a volunteer guide. For ten days, the 31 -year -old young woman, who has arrived from Lyon, where she teaches German, has visited this Gothic building that she now knows by heart. This morning at the end of August, the pouring rain pushed some passers -by to shelter.

At the entrance, behind a large table and a Kakémono flocked from the Casa association logo, Domitille, another 26 -year -old volunteer, welcomes arrivals. The guides offer them to present the interior of the building, for free. Laure and Rémi, a Nancy couple, have only five minutes in front of them. Never mind, Anne takes them to the right transept for a short and effective historical place: “Everything works on the menu, we adapt to time, but also to the age and knowledge of the public.” Rémi comes out of it: “I am an atheist, but it’s very interesting to know what I visit.”

A few minutes later, it was a father and his daughter, Pierre-Yves and Manon, Protestants who entered by chance, that Domitille accompanies. As they have more time, the guide takes a full tour of the building, stops in front of the Triptych of the life of Saint Anne, Made in the 16th century by Hans Wyditz, then concluded his visit to a 14th century stained glass, which parallel the events of the Old and New Testament. “I find it wonderful. Protestants cannot represent God, so our temples are not very decorated, ”says Manon. A success that Nicolas, the sacristan of the collegiate church confirms: “The parish priest knew the association on the Internet. We have been welcoming it for three years. The formula pleases a lot. “

Accompany the look

The Colmar collegiate church is one of the eighteen sites in which the CASA association – for host communities in artistic sites this summer. In the list, we find places as famous as the abbey of Conques (Aveyron) or the Basilica of Vézelay (Yonne), and others more unknown such as the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption church, in Anzy-le-Duc (Saône-et-Loire).

Born in 1967 from the initiative of a Parisian priest, Casa offers young people aged 18 to 35, in groups of two to five, to devote two weeks of their vacation to visit these places. The stake? “Presenting the building under the triple artistic, historical, historical, and above all spiritual dimension,” explains Bastien Rousseau, 35, executive of the public service in Paris and president of Casa for a year. However, it is not evangelization: “Very often, visitors are little aware of religion and its heritage. We are there to answer their questions, accompany their eyes, and transmit the spiritual message of the monument. ”

Guide and make people understand

Each year, the places that request the association must fulfill four conditions to benefit from its services: to be a place of worship in activity, to be able to house the guides for free, to present a real heritage value, and to arouse a sufficient flow of visitors. Casa is responsible for training guides during weekends in the year, and provides them with the documentation necessary to know and show the place. “All come from various horizons: there are certainly heritage professionals, but also engineers, accountants … Some are not believers,” said the president. Their annual membership (between 20 and 40 euros depending on their income) is the only source of financing of the association, with donations.

Among the destinations, Colmar appears as a particular site. “Tourists are very numerous, but few come for the collegiate church itself and are arranged at a visit,” says Anne. If it is therefore necessary sometimes to wait, the holidaymakers who let themselves be guided stand out each time delighted to understand the richness of the heritage, and the spiritual power of the place. Like Stéphanie, a Colmarian fifties, who, although baptized as a child, has not received a religious education: “I have always found the architecture of the impressive college, I understood that men had built it only for God.”