Schongauer's Madonna
A late-Gothic masterpiece — a Virgin among roses in gold and detail.
BRUNNER Emmanuel (manu25) — CC BY-SA 2.5 · joergens.mi — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0
Colmar's Gothic Dominican church is plain outside, but guards one of Alsace's most precious paintings: Martin Schongauer's Madonna of the Rose Bush (1473) — a late-Gothic masterpiece art lovers cross the world for, a Virgin among roses and birds in eye-seizing detail and gold, shown alone in studied light amid the bare church. The church itself is a model Dominican Gothic: a slender unornamented nave focusing the eye on the painting and the old stained glass. A short, concentrated visit around one great work — steps from the Maison des Têtes and the famous Petite Venise quarter.
A late-Gothic masterpiece — a Virgin among roses in gold and detail.
Dominican Gothic focusing the eye on the painting.
place des Dominicains, 68000 Colmar
Place des Martyrs de la RésistanceA square in Colmar named in memory of the martyrs of the French Resistance, stan1 minute walk4.4
Maison des TêtesA hundred and six heads stare from one façade: the House of Heads (1609), Colmar1 minute walk4.3
Place des UnterlindenA square in central Colmar in front of the Unterlinden museum, the northern entr1 minute walk4.6
Unterlinden MuseumThe Unterlinden lives in a thirteenth-century convent with a quiet cloister, joi2 minutes walk4.5
Collégiale Saint-MartinSaint-Martin is Colmar's great church — locals call it 'the cathedral' though it3 minutes walk4.6Take both — Colmar is small: here Schongauer's Madonna, at the nearby Unterlinden Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece — among the greatest works of German art ever. If one work: Isenheim is the more overwhelming, but both are one walk apart.