Friday, June 12, 2026
Pat & Chuck left from Strasburg, Dave & Lynn stopped in Séléstat on the way home.
Pat & Chuck left on the 12:22 PM train to Paris from the Strasburg train station. We were on the road before 10 with a goal of being at the train station by 11 to give us time to park and figure out how to find this train. Strasburg is a really big train station. It has a North Hall, South Hall, and in the middle, a Main Hall. Different stairs lead to different tracks. We had plenty of time to figure all this out and just after 12, Dave helped Chuck & Pat get their luggage to Track 1. It's sad to see them go. We've had so many adventures together ever since Pat & I taught in the same school in 1972.
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| On the right, behind this modern glass extension, there are 3 entrances each serving different tracks. |
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| Lynn, Chuck, Pat waiting for the announcement of their track. |
Since it's early, Dave suggested we stop in Séléstat. The Michelin Green Guide thinks it's pretty cool. Unfortunately, our 2018 version didn't know that the Tourist Office had moved. Oops. We parked anyway where the Tourist Office used to be since that was pretty close to city center.
Just a couple of blocks brought us to the Humanist Library. This rather unusual library houses the book collections of Renaissance humanists from around 1500.
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| Lynn in front of the backside of the Bibliotheque Humaniste |
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| The other side, which is where the entrance is, opens onto a central square, the Cour des Prélats. |
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| The collections are displayed on the first floor (our second floor) in a very modern and interactive setting. |
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| Inside the library, 500 year old books are displayed in glass cases along with panels that explain what you are seeing as well as providing background on the Renaissance Humanist movement. |
The center room outlines the life and work of one man, Beatus Rhenanus, a Séléstat native. From a young age, Beatus was sent to the Latin Grammar School in Séléstat. From that time on, he was involved in one way or another with editing and printing Greek and Latin manuscripts, first as a student, then later on as a teacher. A notebook he began at age 13 shows the approach taken by these Renaissance teachers. The signage below explains all the writing.
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| Beatus' school notebook from when he was 13. You can see dark lines of written text, as well as writings under the text and notes in the margins. |
Books from the collection of Beatus Rhenanus documented the ways in which he moved the Humanist movement forward. In all the library has over 6000 books from the 15th and 16th centuries, from many sources, one of them being Beatus' personal library. This museum is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Intellectuals of the Renaissance had access not only to current writings, but to those in Greek and Latin from scholars such as Ptolemy, a Roman mathematician and astronomer, or Greek intellectuals, Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates. Signage in French, German, & English made it easy to follow the flowering of the Humanist movement. Digital screens allowed you to turn the pages of a book. This museum didn't just present old stuff, it made it comprehensible and interesting.
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| The collection of ancient books is shelved in plain sight, but behind locked glass doors |
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| Information panels in French, German, and English |
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| Beatus bought this edition of Aristotle's logic book in Paris in 1503 |
After a couple hours in the museum, we had absorbed all our brains could process. We left the library and ate lunch in the square (Cour des Prélats) in front of the library. Across the plaza from the library was another museum - this one about bread-making.
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| Not sure what this is meant to be, but we've seen several of this style of sculpture created out of strips of wood. |
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| The Bread Museum |
Also on this square, surprise of surprises, was the Tourist Office. Dave went in to get a walking tour of the old city center to continue our exploration of this town.
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| Tourist Office with sarcophagus lids on the wall |
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| I was fascinated by the jumble of architecture behind Dave. |
Our next stop was the Ëglise Sainte-Foy. Although one of the oldest buildings in Séléstat, Sainte-Foy has seen many modifications since it was the abbey chapel at the end of the 11th century. The two Germanic spires were added in a 19th century renovation.
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| An archeological dig in the crypt of the church uncovered this limestone death mask that had solidified. It is thought to be either Countess Hildegard of Buren or her daughter, but is known as the "unknown beauty of Séléstat". The crypt is a remnant of the chapel Hildegard of Buren gifted to the abbey of St Foy |
A second church in town is the Église Saint-Georges, built between 1220 and 1500 in Gothic style.
This tower (with the stork's nest on top) is called the Witches Tower (Tour des Sorcieres). It was part of the original 13th century walls. In the 17th century this tower was used as a prison for women accused of witchcraft.
This was a long day. Good thing we have leftovers to warm for dinner.
