Strasbourg - Saint-Thomas

When Strasbourg was first mentioned in 12BC, it was the Roman camp Argentoratum. Strasbourg was probably a bishop's seat from the 4th century. Alemanni, Huns and Franks conquered the city in the 5th century. Strasbourg was then ruled by the Strasbourg bishops until 1262 when the citizens violently rebelled against the bishopric and Strasbourg became a free imperial city and so belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. Led by two rival patrician families (Müllheim and Zorn), the city prospered, although the town hall required two separate entrances for the two families.

On February 14, 1349, one of the first and largest pogroms of persecution of Jews in connection with the plague in the German area took place here. In the course of the St. Valentine's Day massacre, several hundred (some say up to 3000) Jews were publicly burned, and the survivors were expelled from the city. Until the end of the 18th century, Jews were forbidden to stay within the city walls after 10 pm.

Strasbourg came under French rule in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV. However, the revocation of the Edict of Toleration of Nantes in 1685, which legalized the suppression of Protestantism in France, did not apply in Alsace, and religious freedom prevailed, even if the French authorities endeavored to favor Catholicism wherever possible.

Strasbourg's Lutheran, German-influenced university continued to exist. Moreover, until 1789, Alsace was a de facto foreign province , separated from the rest of France by a customs border running along the Vosges Mountains. Therefore, the city and its surrounding area remained German-speaking. In the period of the French Revolution, the city became attractive for republicans from Germany and later an exile for German oppositionists.

Around 600, a monastery with a church dedicated to the Apostle Thomas was founded at the current location. In the 9th century, a new church was built with an adjoining school. Both burned down in 1007 by lightning. After reconstruction, the monastery was converted into a collegiate monastery in 1031. Lightning struck again in 1144. The construction of a new building began in 1196, which combines Romanesque solidity with early Gothic details. The construction work ended in 1521 with side chapels in the late Gothic style.

It is the main Lutheran church of the city since its cathedral became Catholic again after the annexation of the town by France in 1681. So it is nicknamed "la cathédrale du Protestantisme alsacien". It is the only hall church in the Alsace region. In the church, there are many tombs and monuments. This is the decorated sarcophagus of Bishop Adelochus (+823). It is a work of the "Master of Eschau", created around 1130.