Bronze fountain statue of Imperial commander Lazarus von Schwendi (1522-1583) by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, designer of New York Statue of Liberty, faces Old Customs House or Koïfhus, built 1480, in Place de l’Ancienne Douane at Colmar, Alsace, Grand Est, France. The Koïfhus, under a Burgundian-style patterned shingle roof, is Colmar’s oldest public building.
Colmar, Alsace, Grand Est, France: a bronze statue by Colmar-born French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904), designer of New York’s Statue of Liberty, depicts the Imperial general, war hero and diplomat, Lazarus von Schwendi (1522-1583), on the central pillar of the rebuilt fountain before the Old Customs House or Koïfhus in Place de l’Ancienne Douane (Old Customs Square). The Customs House, founded in 1480, stands at the confluence of the Grand’Rue and the Rue des Marchands and is Colmar’s oldest public building. Its ground floor was used as a warehouse and space where customs tolls and taxes were levied on imported goods. A meeting room was used by magistrates and by the Decapolis or Décapole, a federation of ten Alsatian cities of the Holy Roman Empire, including Colmar. The alliance lasted from 1354 to 1679. Two adjoining buildings were added to the Customs House in the 1500s, but by the 1800s, demolition was planned because it was in such poor condition. Instead, in the 1890s, it was comprehensively restored and further renovation has taken place since then. The abolition of commercial privileges in the French Revolution ultimately prevented Colmar levying tolls. The Customs House served as a theatre in the 1840s and was then occupied by Colmar’s Chamber of Commerce and by a school for boys. It is now hosts exhibitions and various other public events. In this view of the southeast facade, Burgundian-style brown and green patterned shingle roofs cover the central former customs house, its two adjoining buildings and a stair turret roofed in contrasting yellow and green. Flower baskets line a wooden balustrade running across a pillared loggia above the round arches of the arcaded ground floor portal.
Size: 4136px × 2752px
Location: Colmar, Alsace, Grand Est, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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