Old City, Colmar, France. March 1993
On the visit to Strasbourg, France on Matt's First Great German Adventure, we drove south a short distance to Colmar whose claims to fame were being the birthplace of Bartholdi (sculptor of the Statue of Liberty) and guarding the Isenheim Altarpiece (in a museum). It was my first visit to France, actually. How ironic to finally reach a destination I had dreamed about only to find it was the German part. ha!
Colmar is a beautiful little medieval town with an intact historical center. Colmar is German. The Alsatian dialect of French is German (désolé mes amis français). MAP noted that upon hearing locals speak it sounded a lot like Swabian. He was right as it is part of the same dialect group. Unfortunately, it is a language in decline:
The policies of the Paris government have had the deliberate effect of greatly weakening the prevalence of native languages in France that are not "French". As a result, Alsatian has gone from being the prevalent language of the region to one in decline. (Wikipedia)
What I loved about Alsatian speakers was their refusal to speak it even to German-speakers. It was a total, in-group language - similar to Pennsylvania German. Quite a shame it is in decline.
Colmar's history is one of being swapped between France and Germany - a LOT of times in fact. However, Colmar at heart is German. Just as the residents of Bolzano, Italy are Austrians who had to learn Italian, those of Colmar are Germans who had to learn French. We think of borders as these stark dividing lines between cultures and peoples when in fact, they are usually a slow blend from one country to the next. Alsace is a perfect example of the transition zone from France to Germany.
We saw the obligatory memorial to Bartholdi - quite a thing to be proud of as a resident of Colmar. Their native son sculpted an internationally famous symbol. We tried to see the Isenheim Altarpiece, but it was one of those "museum days off". Bad luck, but then again - an altar is an altar. We roamed the tiny old city, but without much else to do, we again crossed the Rhine and headed to Freiburg for a late lunch
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