Temple Neuf

The Temple Neuf is a Protestant church located in the centre of Strasbourg, very close to the city's cathedral and the Place Kléber.

It's a beautiful church, but it came as a process of discovery to me because, given its very close proximity to Strasbourg Cathedral, it didn't really grab my attention that much to begin with. However, I ended up going inside one day to shelter myself from the cold whilst waiting for a friend and I loved the interior. It was like a worship service dedicated to silence and relaxation: you couldn't hear a pin drop! No outside noise disturbed the peace and quiet, nor did anyone attending the service speak, you could only hear the relaxing background music. So, this is a great place to come if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for a while. Besides, it's quite bright and airy inside, despite not appearing so from the exterior thanks to its reddish-brown colour. I didn't just like the atmosphere alone, but, instead, I fell in love with the beauty of the church as a whole (although I personally preferred the interior to the exterior).

The exterior of the church is quite dark, as it is a reddish-brown colour, and with the greyish sky that is very much typical of Strasbourg, it is intensified to an even greater degree. In terms of size, it is quite tall, especially the tower in the centre of the church, and, on either side of it, there is a lower level that slopes downwards. There are three rose windows in the main facade: one larger one in the centre, while the other two sit on either side a little bit lower.

The entranceway is quite wide: it doesn't look like a church at all, but in fact the entrance hall of an important building. There are two plant pots that sit on either side and a kind of bright star with several points hanging from above.

The interior has an ornate altar that doesn't look like one that you would find in any other church; it isn't very detailed, but it is white and very much contrasts with the rest of the church, so it's for this reason that it catches your attention. In addition to this, on one side of the altar, there was a medium-sized Christmas tree with lots of lights on it. To the other side of the tree, there is a huge screen that talks about angels; there was a photo of a baby with wings, which is supposedly an angel, and that is because there is a photography exhibition being held (18th November to 3rd January), which depicts biblical texts about angels. However, when I was there, the only photo that I saw was the one on the screen.

If you turn to the right just after entering the church, you will see a counter with a staff member waiting to attend to you. I don't entirely know what their duties are, but they were showing some visitors things, and there is also an area just next to this counter with tables and chairs, where, for 1€, you can have a coffee whilst reading the documents and books that they have there.

However, to the left-hand side of the entrance, there is a large sign that talks about Eckhart, as well as a bust of François Henri Redslob, a Protestant pastor from Strasbourg. Next to this bust, you will find the tomb of Johannes Tauler, a disciple of Meister Eckhart, who seems to be quite famous in Strasbourg, as a girl excitedly asked me to take a photo of her with it because he was her favourite artist (or something along those lines, I didn't really understand her that well). It is like a drawing on the shape of a man's tombstone. And, every time that the church suffered damages, the tombstone itself practically suffered none. On the other hand, Eckhart was an influential theologian during the thirteenth century of the Dominican Order (another famous Dominican is Thomas Aquinas), but I know really know what this doctrine consists of exactly.

In the upper part of the entranceway, you can see a huge, beautiful organ.

It's rather different to the idea that we have of a stereotypical church thanks to the details to that I told you about earlier; I don't know if it's because it is a Protestant church or if it's for another reason, but it's worthy of visiting all the same.

In the Place du Temple Neuf, there is a little Christmas market ("Marché de Noël") in the Carré d'Or district. This area of Strasbourg consists of several streets in the city centre, which are the ones that are decorated the most during the Christmas period (indicated by a sign at the entrance to each one). But, even if there wasn't a sign, you would be able to point them out for yourselves because they are the streets with undoubtedly the most decoration - they have thousands of Christmas lights and decorations - as well as being the longest and the ones with lots of shops. So, the Christmas market is situated in Place du Temple Neuf and, although it is small in comparison to the ones in Place de la Cathédrale and Place Broglie, I like it a lot. What really caught my eye here was the little stand that had lots of different soaps for sale in a variety of shapes (watermelons, cupcakes, ducks, etc. ), as well as some very original slabs of soap that you could purchase as gifts, and, of course, the smell was divine. There was also a stall that sold lots of different varieties of tea that was always full of customers eagerly awaiting to make a purchase.

The best way to get there without getting lost is to follow the street that goes from Place Gutenburg to Place Kléber, before turning right down the street that has a bakery/coffee shop on it called Paul, and you will find both the square and the church.