Sélestat - Sainte-Foy

The "Église Sainte-Foy de Sélestat" was built in only 10 years between 1170 and 1180, succeeding an earlier ("Holy Sepulcre")church from around 1085 built by Hildegard von Egisheim. Of this church only the rectangular crypt (and some cavings) remained. Hildegard?s grandson Frederick I Barbarossa funded the construction of the new church, that was the center of a benedictine monastry, depending from the abbey St. Foy in Conques.

A giant beast (lion? bear?) carrying or retrieving a ram. This carving may originate from the older church at this place. A ram does stand sometimes for Thor, pagan god in the Germanic mythology, as he uses a cart, drawn by rams.