Colmar, France

Colmar is the 3rd largest "commune" in Alsace, behind Strasbourg and Mulhouse. It's known for having several architectural landmarks, and for being a place of healing for the St. Anthony's fire (now called ergotism).

At the time, those afflicted with the ailment would pilgrimage to the Monastery of St. Anthony near Colmar. Those afflicted would be placed in front of the "The Isenheim Altarpiece" and asked to pray as scenes of the passion of the Christ and life of saint Anthony's torment by demons were displayed in front of the patients. It was sort of a, "see it could be worse" medicine. The monks did actually apply medicine. Today we know Ergotism is caused by the ingestion of alkaloids. So possibly just removing them from their previous environment did the trick.

Overall, I think we liked Strasbourg more than Colmar (to compare major Alsacien cities), but it was a nice final stop before moving into Germany.Weiterlesen