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Eglise Notre-Dame de la Nativité
(Nativity of the Blessed Virgin)


  We've already admired the roman bell tower porch of the church. Let's go inside, to have a look at the nave (hereunder) and at the chancel.

Church: the nave

Since the Vatican II Synod, the high altars initially placed in the back of the chancel have been replaced by smaller ones, placed in the middle of it, so that the priest can face his congregation. This is the old high altar of the church, which is now in the chapel of the cemetary.

Church: the chancel

During the first world war, Germany went short of bronze for its cannons. So it confiscated many bells of the alsacian churches. It occurred in july 1917 in Saverne too, where four bells (three from the main parish church and one from the Recollet Church) were taken and sent to the foundries.

After the Armistice in 1918, three hundred alsacian bells were found near Frankfurt. By an extraordinary hazard, the four bells from Saverne were among them. They came back in town with great pomp and ceremony in 1919, after two years exile.

The bells taking down

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© Thierry Heitmann - 1997-2001