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The
chapel
 The
chapel bearing the name of Kloesterlé (little monastery)
is dedicated to the Virgin and drew many pilgrims on the
day of Saint Barthelemy, its other patron saint. In the
18th and 19th century it housed the ex-votos. One of the
paintings still preserved is signed W. Lautenbach, probably
a wandering painter from Münster in Westphalia.
The chapel was founded
in 1135 by Count Bruno of Eguisheim-Dabo, the great-nephew
of Pope Leo IX.
 It
was first restored by the Benedictines of Lure (Franche-Comté)
in 1485 which left it a few Romanesque remains (three helmets
on a silver band and an inscription commemorating the restoration).
Tradition has it that the large head set into the upright
on the right hand side of the wall was that of the chapel's
founder, Bruno of Eguisheim-Dabo. To see these details you
have to go round the other side of the chapel, as at that
time the main road passed by the other side, where the original
entry is to be found.
 In
1558 the priory house in which four monks lived was turned
into a private house. The chapel was sold to the Molsheim
Jesuits in 1616. It was a ruin and it was not until 1720
that the Jesuits restored the chapel and the Romanesque
remains were incorporated into the outer wall.
When the Jesuits were
expelled from France in 1756, the Kloesterlé was handed
over to the church and incorporated into the parish of Mollkirch
in 1803. Opposite the church, the half-timbered priory house,
rebuilt in 1603, has been transformed into a private house.
 Subsequent
to theft and vandalism, the chapel is now kept locked, except
for occasional services. To visit the chapel please ask:
Mme Nibel (2, route de la Chapelle).
> Next page: the
Guirbaden Castle.
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