Colmar citiwalk - beautiful half-timbered houses and little venice

This route visits the historic center of Colmar. We walk through beautiful streets with half-timbered houses and pass most of the famous monuments and sights.

The route starts at a spacious parking lot on the Place du Capitaine Dreyfus. Parking is free here (updated 2021). From here we walk in the direction of the center, in the meantime passing close to the train station. So it is also possible to follow this route from the station.
We will visit the following places along the way:

Monument to Admiral Bruat
The Monument to Admiral Bruat is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Bartholdi inaugurated in 1864 and classified as a historical monument since August 7, 1946.

Place des Dominicaines
The square owes its name to the presence of the Order of Preachers, also called Dominicans. In this square is their former convent.

Chiesa Collégiale Saint-Martin
ST MARTIN COLLEGIAL CHURCH - PLACE DE LA CATHEDRALE - The construction of St Martin's Collegiate Church was started in 1235 and completed towards the end of the 15th century, and is as imposing as a real cathedral. The austere western facade is supported by powerful buttresses. Of the two towers originally planned, only the south tower was completed. The transept was completed in 1263, the nave around 1300, and the present choir around 1400. One gets completely enchanted when one opens the doors and is immediately charmed by the clarity, unity and almost organic layout of the room.

Corps de garde
OLD GUARDHOUSE - PLACE DE LA CATHÉDRALE - The former chapel Saint-Jacques (mentioned already in 1286), which for a time served as the town hall, was converted in 1575 for secular purposes. Above a vaulted ossuary, the building houses a guardhouse on the lower floor and rooms on the upper floor. The loggia, built from 1577 to 1582, and its rich decorative repertoire, together with the portal, is a jewel of the Renaissance architecture in the Upper Rhine.

Maison Pfister
HOUSE PFISTER - RUE DES MARCHANDS - This bourgeois house was built in 1537 by the hatter Louis SCHERER from Besançon, who became rich by exploiting the silver mines of Val de Lièpvre. This Renaissance house still relies heavily on medieval architecture. The iconography in which atleqorieen, characters from the Old and New Testaments are combined with portraits of emperors, perfectly reflects the taste of the merchant bourgeoisie for the humanistic culture of the Renaissance.

Petite Venise
LITTLE VENICE - RUE TURENNE - «Little Venice» is the name given to the Lauch in Colmar. This name probably comes from the original line of houses on either side of the river on the southeast side of the town. Originally inhabited by a rural community of winegrowers, gardeners and boatmen, the Krutenau extends around the rue Turenne, which the Marshal used in 1674 for his triumphal entry into the city

Marché couvert
THE COVERED MARKET - RUE DES TANNEURS - Designed in 1865, this brick and steel building served a variety of functions until it regained its original role as a market hall in September 2010. About twenty traders welcome you all year round to offer you fresh quality products: fruits and vegetables, butchery, delicatessen. cheese, bread, fish and other delicious regional products.

Rue de la Poissonnerie
THE FISH AREA - RUE DE LA POISSONNERIE - A picturesque row of half-timbered houses borders the Lauch. Most of them are old houses of boatmen and fishermen, who used to set their traps in the river. On the rue de la Poissonnerie, you reach the «Little Venice», the most romantic part of the Krutenau district, formerly a gardener's quarter. It was via the Lauch River that the horticulturists transported their goods to the city on flat-bottomed boats that looked like gondolas

Hôtel de ville
The site of the CITY HALL had been occupied since the end of the 16th century by the Court of the Cistercian abbey of Pairis. The old buildings were demolished in 1778, in order to build the current building. This building housed the departmental administration in 1790, the Haut-Rhin prefecture in 1800 and then, since 1866, the town hall. The main facade has been registered as a historic monument since June 18, 1929.
It is a neoclassical building, built by the Abbey of Pairis, and comprising two floors, surmounted by a segmented roof. On the ground floor, the front door is flanked by two windows and lined with chains of cut stones. The forepart is surmounted by a triangular pediment, in the tympanum of which appear the arms of the City. On the first floor there is a small wrought iron balcony, bounded by the two medial pilasters (Wikipedia)

Théâtre municipal
The MUNICIPAL THEATER was built between 1847 and 1849 on a former outbuilding of the Unterlinden convent by the architect Louis-Michel Boltz. It was inaugurated on March 8, 1849 and underwent restoration in 2000, increasing from 550 to 750 seats.
The theatre offers an elegant exterior “à la française” with five bays. The plan includes three successive bodies: vestibule and foyer room for the first; hall and stage for the second; administrative premises and lodges for the third. Its interior decoration is the work of Boulangé.
Attendence is around 32,000 spectators per year for 120 performances. (Wikipedia)

Maison des Têtes
HOUSE WITH THE HEADS RUE DES TETES This bourgeois house, built in 1609 in the Renaissance style of the Rhine, owes its name to the special decoration of 105 grotesque masks. A beautiful oriel on two floors, lined with a balcony, adorns its facade which is irregularly decorated with carved upper mantle windows. An Alsatian bronze cooper, the work of Auguste Bartholdi, crowns the magnificent facade. This reminds us that this building was once used as a wine exchange.

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