Amazing Fairy Tale Village Of Colmar, France

5. Maison des Tetes (House of the Heads)

Built in 1609, you will understand why it is called the House of Heads when you see the 106 heads, called grotesque masks, decorating the facade and a three story bay window. The house was built for a shopkeeper, Anton Burger, and is an example of the German Renaissance style. The house also has a stature of a cooper sculpted in 1902 by Auguste Bartholdi (of America’s Statue of Liberty fame) commissioned by the Wine Exchange which occupied the building in 1898. This building was restored in 2012.

6. Maison Pfister (Pfister House)

Built in 1537, this home was built for Ludwig Scherer Hatter who made his fortune with the silver trade in the Valley of Lièpvre. Despite its medieval characteristics, it is the first example of the architectural Renaissance in Colmar. With its oriel of angle in two floors, its wooden Gallery, its octagonal turret and its wall hinges that represent scenes biblical and secular, the Maison Pfister became one of the symbols of the old Colmar. It owes its name to the family that the restored and occupied it from 1841 to 1892. This building was recently restored (facade and roof) in 2012.

7. Unterlinden Museum

This museum situated in a 13th century medieval convent has Holbein the Elder, Renoir, and Picasso’s. The highlight is the 1515 Isenheim altarpiece painting by Gruenwald, a revolutionary Alsatian Renaissance painter. In the time of illiteracy amongst the poor, altarpieces were storybooks for the illiterate parishioners. This German Renaissance painting on the verge of Luther’s Protestant Reformation shows realistic images of death and colorful demons. It’s interesting to think of this painting in contract to the Italian Renaissance with Raphael’s and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel of pastel heavenly “beautiful” images.

8. Dominican Church

Built in the 14th century, this building is an example of Gothic architecture. A visit here though is primarily to see the famous 1473 Schongauer alterpiece painting “vierge au buisson de roses” (Virgin of the Rose Garden).