Synagogue in Mulhouse

The church of Saint-Etienne was built between 1855 and 1860. After several proposals, the project of the Haut-Rhin architect Jean-Baptiste Schacre was finally chosen, on the recommendation of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The new neo-Gothic style building will have a bell tower-porch, a nave with side aisles, a transept, a choir surrounded by an ambulatory and radiating chapels. The original stained glass windows are partially preserved, those in the aisles were destroyed during the Second World War and replaced.

The Saint-Etienne temple is the main reformed church in the city of Mulhouse. Its dimensions make it the tallest Protestant building in France and it is often referred to as the "cathedral" of Mulhouse. The present building dates mainly from a construction phase from 1859 to 1866, but a Romanesque building was dedicated here as early as 1186. In 1523, persecuted by the Protestants of the region, the Catholics were expelled from St. Stephen's Church to make room for the Reformed cult. The tower was given a baroque bulb in 1707. The church was destroyed in 1858.

This church has an octagonal central plan, typical of Ottonian architecture, which draws its inspiration from Byzantine and Paleochretian architecture. Besides this remarkable characteristic, the church benefits from an important supporter since it was founded by Rodolphe d'Altenbourg, one of the founders of the house of Habsburg.