Colmar Explained

Colmar
Native Name: (Alsatian)
Commune Status:Prefecture and commune
Image Flag:Flag of Colmar.gif
Coordinates:48.0817°N 7.3556°W
Arrondissement:Colmar-Ribeauvillé
Canton:Colmar-1 and 2
Intercommunality:Colmar Agglomération
Mayor:Éric Straumann[1]
Term:2020 - 2026
Elevation M:197
Elevation Min M:175
Elevation Max M:214
Area Km2:66.57
Insee:68066
Postal Code:68000
Image Coat Of Arms:Image-Blason Colmar 68.svg
Dialling Code:0389

Colmar (in French pronounced as /kɔlmaʁ/; Alsatian: Swiss German; Alemannic; Alsatian: Colmer in Swiss German; Alemannic; Alsatian pronounced as /ˈkolməʁ/; German: German: Kolmar) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department and of the subprefecture of the Colmar-Ribeauvillé arrondissement.

The city is renowned for its well-preserved old town, its numerous architectural landmarks and its museums, among which is the Unterlinden Museum, which houses the Isenheim Altarpiece.

Colmar is located on the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the capital of Alsatian wine (French: capitale des vins d'Alsace).

History

Native Name:
Conventional Long Name:Imperial City of Colmar
Common Name:Colmar
Era:Middle Ages
Status:Imperial City
Empire:Holy Roman Empire
Government Type:City-state
Year Start:1226
Year End:1679
Event Start:Immediacy granted by Frederick II
Event1:Joined Décapole
Date Event1:1354
Event2:Conquered by Louis XIV
Date Event2:1673
Event End:Ceded at Nijmegen
S1:Kingdom of France
Flag S1:Royal Standard of the King of France.svg
Capital:Colmar
Common Languages:Alsatian

Colmar was first mentioned by Charlemagne in his chronicle about Saxon wars.[2] This was the location where the Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat held a diet in 884.[3] Colmar was granted the status of a free imperial city by Emperor Frederick II in 1226.[2] In 1354 it joined the Décapole city league.[4] The city adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1575, long after the northern neighbours of Strasbourg and Sélestat.[5] During the Thirty Years' War, it was taken by the Swedish army in 1632, which held it for two years. In 1634, the Schoeman family arrived and started the first town library. In 1635, the city's harvest was spoiled by Imperialist forces while the residents shot at them from the walls.[6]

The city was conquered by France under King Louis XIV in 1673 and officially ceded by the 1679 Treaties of Nijmegen.[7] In 1854 a cholera epidemic killed many in the city.[5] With the rest of Alsace, Colmar was annexed by the newly formed German Empire in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War and incorporated into the Alsace-Lorraine province.[8] It returned to France after World War I according to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles,[9] was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940, and then reverted to French control after the battle of the "Colmar Pocket" in 1945.[10] Colmar has been continuously governed by conservative parties since 1947, the Popular Republican Movement (1947–1977), the Union for French Democracy (1977–1995) and the Union for a Popular Movement (since 1995), and has had only three mayors during that time.[11]

The Colmar Treasure, a hoard of precious objects hidden by Jews during the Black Death, was discovered here in 1863.[12]

Geography

Colmar is 64km (40miles) south-southwest of Strasbourg, at 48.08°N, 7.36°E, on the River Lauch, a tributary of the Ill. It is located immediately to the east of the Vosges and connected to the Rhine in the east by a canal.

In 2017 the city had a population of 69,105,[13] and the metropolitan area of Colmar had a population of 199,234 in 2018.[14] Colmar is the centre of the arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé, which had 211,312 inhabitants in 2017.[13]

Climate

Colmar has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) but it is significantly modified by the city's location far inland, with cold, dry winters and warm to hot, wetter summers.

The city has a sunny microclimate and is one of the driest cities in France, with an annual precipitation of just 607mm, making it ideal for Alsace wine. It is considered the capital of the Alsatian wine region.

The dryness results from the town's location next to mountains, which forces clouds arriving from the west to rise and much of their moisture to condense and fall over the higher ground, leaving the air warmed and dried by the time it reaches Colmar.

The city therefore has more of a continental climate and winter and summer temperatures can sometimes be the lowest or highest in France.


Main sights

Mostly spared from the destructions of the French Revolution and the wars of 1870–1871, 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, the cityscape of old-town Colmar is homogenous and renowned among tourists. An area that is crossed by canals of the river Lauch (which formerly served as the butcher's, tanner's and fishmonger's quarter) is now called "little Venice" (French: la Petite Venise).

Architectural landmarks

Colmar's secular and religious architectural landmarks reflect eight centuries of Germanic and French architecture and the adaptation of their respective stylistic language to the local customs and building materials (pink and yellow Vosges sandstone, timber framing).

Secular buildings

Religious buildings

Fountains

Monuments

Museums

Library

The Municipal Library of Colmar (French: Bibliothèque municipale de Colmar) owns one of the richest collections of incunabula in France, with more than 2,300 volumes.[18] This is quite an exceptional number for a city that is neither the main seat of a university, nor of a college, and has its explanation in the dissolution of local monasteries, abbeys and convents during the French Revolution and the subsequent gift of their collections to the town.

Transport

The small regional Colmar Airport serves Colmar.

The railway station Gare de Colmar offers connections to Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Besançon, Zürich and several regional destinations. Colmar was also once linked to Freiburg im Breisgau, in Germany and on the other side of the Rhine, by the Freiburg–Colmar international railway. However the railway bridge over the Rhine between Breisach and Neuf-Brisach was destroyed in 1945 and never replaced.

Education

Senior high schools in Colmar include:

Colmar shares the French: Université de Haute-Alsace (Upper Alsace University) with the neighbouring, larger city of Mulhouse. Of the approximately 8,000 students of the UHA, around 1,500 study at the French: Institut universitaire de technologie (IUT) Colmar, at the Colmar branch of the French: Faculté des Sciences et Techniques and at the French: Unité de Formation et de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire d'Enseignement Professionalisé Supérieur (UFR PEPS).

The École Compleméntaire Pour L'Enseignement Japonaise à Colmar (コルマール補習授業校 Korumāru Hoshū Jugyō Kō), a part-time supplementary Japanese school, is held in Colmar.[19] At one time classes were held at the Centre Cultural de Seijo.[20]

Music

Since 1980, Colmar is home to an international summer festival of classical music French: Festival de Colmar (also known as French: Festival international de musique classique de Colmar). In its first version (1980 to 1989), it was placed under the artistic direction of the German conductor Karl Münchinger. Since 1989, it is helmed by the Russian violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov.

Economy

Colmar is an affluent city whose primary economic strength lies in the flourishing tourist industry. But it is also the seat of several large companies: Timken (European seat), Liebherr (French seat), Leitz (French seat), Capsugel France (A division of Pfizer).

Every year since 1947, Colmar is host to what is now considered as the biggest annual commercial event as well as the largest festival in Alsace,[21] the Foire aux vins d'Alsace (Alsacian wine fair).

When Air Alsace existed, its head office was on the grounds of Colmar Airport.[22]

Parks and recreation

By 1991 Lycée Seijo, a Japanese boarding high school in Kientzheim, had established a Japanese cultural center. It housed books and printed materials in Japan and hosted lectures and film screenings.[23]

Notable people

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France. Colmar is twinned with:[24]

Replicas of historical buildings in Malaysia

Bukit Tinggi Resort Colmar Tropicale which is situated in Bentong district, State of Pahang, Malaysia is a resort-theme historical village inspires from the original Colmar commune in France. Colmar Tropicale located 60 km north-east of Kuala Lumpur.

North of it, a rebuild of Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is in the Berjaya Hills, hosting an organic resort hotel.[25]

In popular culture

Colmar's cityscape (and that of neighbouring Riquewihr) served as inspiration for the design of the Japanese animated film Howl's Moving Castle. Scenes in the anime Is the Order a Rabbit? are also based on this location.[26]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Répertoire national des élus: les maires. data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022. fr.
  2. Web site: Colmar . Encyclopaedia Britannica . 24 June 2019.
  3. Book: BRAEUNER . Gabriel . Colmar "Un Itinéraire à travers l'Histoire" . 2005 . 9782913302563 . 60.
  4. G. Köbler, Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder, 7th edition, C.H. Beck, Munich, 2007.
  5. Web site: The History of Colmar in 20 key dates . 25 June 2019.
  6. Helfferich, Tryntje, The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 290.
  7. Book: Eisenhower's Thorn on the Rhine: The Battles for the Colmar Pocket, 1944-45 . Casemate . Nathan Prefer . 2015 . 18.
  8. The Economic Consequences of Annexation: Alsace-Lorraine and Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 . Central European History. 4. 1. Cambridge University Press . 1971 . Dan P. Silverman . 34–53. 4545591. 10.1017/S0008938900000431. 146411340 .
  9. The Local Law of Alsace-Lorraine: A Half Century of Survival . The International and Comparative Law Quarterly. 23. 4. 769–790. Cambridge University Press . H. Patrick Glenn. 758414. 1974. 10.1093/iclqaj/23.4.769.
  10. Web site: From 1918 to 1945 - The inter-war period and hardships time . 25 June 2019.
  11. Web site: Les maires de Colmar depuis la Révolution française . etienne.biellmann.free.fr . 24 September 2019.
  12. Campbell Marian, "Treasures of the plague", September 2007
  13. Web site: Populations légales en vigueur à compter du 1er janvier 2020 . . 2 January 2020 .
  14. Web site: Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Colmar (058). . 16 June 2022 .
  15. Web site: Un fonds d'art juif trop méconnu. dna.fr. 18 August 2016.
  16. Web site: Choco Story Colmar . 20 February 2024.
  17. Web site: Chocolate museum of Colmar – My opinion on Choco Story . My Weekend in Alsace . 20 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240220233850/https://www.my-weekend-in-alsace.com/choco-story-colmar/ . 20 February 2024.
  18. Web site: Welcome to nginx . 2009-11-16 . 20 July 2011 . https://archive.today/20110720212839/http://www.colmar.fr/culture/bibliotheque-centrale.html . dead .
  19. "欧州の補習授業校一覧（平成25年4月15日現在）" . Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Retrieved on 10 May 2014. "Chateau Kiener 24, rue de Verdun, 68000 Colmar, FRANCE"
  20. "欧州の補習授業校一覧" . MEXT. 2 January 2003. Retrieved on 7 April 2015. "（学校所在地） Centre Cultural de Seijo 28 rue Schulumberger 68000 COLMAR, FRANCE"
  21. Web site: History of the Wine fair. https://web.archive.org/web/20081013174849/http://www.foire-colmar.com/dn_LhistoriquedelaFoireauxVins/. dead. 13 October 2008.
  22. "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 13 February 1975. 247.
  23. Iwasaki, Toshio. "Japanese Schools Take Root Overseas." Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry. Japan Economic Foundation (JEF, Kokusai Keizai Kōryū Zaidan), No. 5, 1991. Contributed to Google Books by the JEF. p. 25. "Seijo Gakuen has established a cultural center in the nearby city of Colmar which is used to hold lectures introducing aspects of Japan, to show movies, and to keep books and printed materials oii Japan."
  24. Web site: Colmar et les villes jumelées. colmar.fr. Colmar. fr. 2021-03-28.
  25. News: Schloss-Double : China hat jetzt ein Schlosshotel Neuschwanstein - WELT. DIE WELT. 2017-02-22. 26 September 2014.
  26. Web site: Colmar, France: Home of Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu Ka?. 1 November 2015.

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