Heritage Days Dompeter Church

Guided tour of Alsace's oldest church, set in a magnificent rural setting.

Excavations in 1914 revealed traces of the foundations of a 7th-century edifice, comprising 3 vessels and a semicircular choir flanked by a relic chamber and sacristy. A second church was built on the same plan, but extended by 2 bays to the west. It was consecrated by Pope Leo IX in 1049.

Equipped with dwellings and fortifications, the Dompeter became a place of pilgrimage that throughout the Middle Ages attracted many pilgrims who came to cure their headaches or eye diseases at the nearby Sainte Pétronille spring.

An exhibition will present the roads to Santiago de Compostela, with Le Dompeter being one of the stops.