Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

The church known in Mulhouse as the Temple Saint-Étienne is not a cathedral at all but a large Protestant church, and it stands in the Place de la Réunion, the old town square, beside the painted Renaissance town hall. The city of Mulhouse adopted the Reformation in the sixteenth century and, for a long time, was an independent republic allied to the Swiss Confederation before it joined France in 1798, so the presence of a Protestant church in the centre reflects this history. The building seen today is a neo-Gothic church built in the middle of the nineteenth century to replace an older medieval church, and its tall spire is a landmark of the city.

The church was built between about 1859 and 1869, at a time when Mulhouse was growing rich from its textile industry and was known as the Manchester of France. The industrial families of the city, many of them Protestant, supported the construction, and the result is a spacious building in the Gothic Revival style, with a pointed spire rising to around a hundred metres, buttresses, tracery and carved stone details. Inside, a tall nave with slender columns and pointed vaults gives a sense of lightness, and the interior is lit from the stained-glass windows.

The main treasure is the glass. Some of the windows are medieval, dating from the fourteenth century, and they were taken from the earlier church and preserved in the new building. They are among the oldest stained-glass windows in Alsace, with panels showing figures and scenes in rich blues and reds, and they are worth a close look. The nineteenth-century windows around them add more colour, and the combination of the two periods tells the story of the building. The church also has an organ and the plain furnishings suited to Protestant worship, with a pulpit in the centre rather than altars and statues.

Guided tours of the church are organised in French, with a focus on the architecture and the glass, starting from the Maison du Patrimoine Édouard Boeglin on the Place Lambert, with parking nearby. The church itself is generally open during the day, but opening hours depend on services and events, so check before you arrive. A modest fee may apply for tours or for the climb of the tower on certain days.

The church is in the middle of the walkable centre of Mulhouse, close to the Hôtel de Ville, with its painted façade and its history museum, the Grand Rue and the Place de la Comédie. A short tram ride away lie the Cité de l'Automobile, the national automobile museum, the Musée de l'Impression sur Étoffes and the Jardin Botanique. The Musée du Jouet and the Maison Pfister are also part of the city's offer. The church suits visitors interested in religious history, stained glass and nineteenth-century architecture.