9 Best Sights in Alsace-Lorraine, France

The ornate, late-19th-century Basilique du Bois-Chenu, on a hillside high above Domrémy, has enormous, painted and mosaic panels expounding on Joan's legend in glowing Pre-Raphaelite tones. Outside are serene panoramas of the gently rolling, emerald-green Meuse Valley.

The small but bustling Vieille Ville is anchored by the lovely old Basilique St-Maurice, a low, gray-stone sanctuary blending Romanesque and Gothic styles. Note its sturdy belfry and deep, ornate, 15th-century entry porch.

This vast, frigid edifice was built in the 1740s in a ponderous Baroque style, eased in part by the florid ironwork of Jean Lamour. The most notable interior feature is a murky 19th-century fresco in the dome. The Trésor (Treasury) contains minute 10th-century splendors carved of ivory and gold but is only open to the public on rare occasions.

Dark pink, ornately carved Vosges sandstone covers the facade of this most novel and Germanic of French cathedrals, a triumph of Gothic art begun in 1176. Not content with the outlines of the walls themselves, medieval builders lacily encased them with slender stone shafts. The off-center spire, finished in 1439, looks absurdly fragile as it tapers skyward some 466 feet. You can climb 330 steps to the base of the spire for sweeping views of the city, the Vosges Mountains, and the Black Forest.

The interior presents a stark contrast to the facade: it's older (mostly finished by 1275), and the nave's broad windows emphasize the horizontal rather than the vertical. Note Hans Hammer's ornately sculpted pulpit (1485) and the richly painted 14th- to 15th-century organ loft that rises from pillar to ceiling. The left side of the nave is flanked with richly colored Gothic windows honoring the early leaders of the Holy Roman Empire—Otto I and II and Heinrich I and II. The choir is not ablaze with stained glass but framed by chunky Romanesque masonry. The elaborate 16th-century Chapelle St-Laurent, to the left of the choir, merits a visit; turn to the right to admire the Pilier des Anges (Angels' Pillar), an intricate column dating from 1230.

Just beyond the pillar, the Renaissance machinery of the 16th-century Horloge Astronomique whirs into action daily at 12:30 pm (but the line starts at the south door at 11:45 am) with macabre clockwork figures enacting the story of Christ's Passion. One of the highlights: when the apostles walk past, a likeness of Christ as a rooster crows three times.

Built between 1235 and 1365, this collegiate church is essentially Gothic (the Renaissance bell tower was added in 1572 following a fire). There are some interesting medieval sculptures on the exterior, and the interior, which was heavily vandalized during the Revolution, includes an ambulatory, a rare feature in Alsatian sanctuaries.

The Flemish-influenced Madonna of the Rosebush (1473), noted German artist Martin Schongauer's most celebrated painting, hangs in the Église des Dominicains. Stolen from St-Martin's in 1972 and later recovered, the work has almost certainly been reduced in size from its original state. It nevertheless still makes an enormous impact. The grace and intensity of the Virgin match that of the Christ Child, yet her slender fingers dent the child's soft flesh (and his fingers entwine her curls) with immediate intimacy. Schongauer's text for her crown is: Me carpes genito tuo o santissima virgo (Choose me also for your child, O holiest Virgin).

A 275-foot spire towers over this splendid neo-Gothic church, completed in 1451 and rebuilt in the 1860s. Most of the 2,800 square yards of stained glass were created by the Geyling workshop in Vienna; the chandeliers were made in Liège, Belgium; many carvings are the work of Margraff of Munich; the heaviest of the eight bells was cast in Budapest; and the organ, though manufactured by Merklin of Paris, was inaugurated in 1869 by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner.

The church of St-Foy dates from between 1155 and 1190. Its Romanesque facade remains largely intact (the spires were added in the 19th century), as does the 140-foot octagonal tower over the crossing. Sadly, the interior has been mangled over the centuries, chiefly by the Jesuits, whose most inspired legacy is the Baroque, 1733 pulpit depicting the life of St-Francis Xavier. Note the Romanesque bas-relief next to the baptistery, originally the lid of a sarcophagus.

The twin spires of this parish church compete with the belfry for skyline preeminence. Like the rest of the sanctuary, the spires date from the 1860s, although the 1504 Holy Sepulchre altarpiece in the north transept is a survivor from the previous church. Other points of interest include the flower-bedecked Place de l'Étoile and the Hôtel de Ville, which is open to visitors the third weekend of September during Les Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days).