Sélestat The Town of the First Christmas Trees

An account book of Sélestat dated 1521 records a payment to the foresters to guard the trees on the feast of Saint Thomas, December 21. The town counts it as the oldest written mention of Christmas trees in Europe, a title Tallinn and Riga also claim. Each Advent the church of Saint-George hangs trees from its vaults, decorated as they were at different times in the past.

The town’s Humanist Library holds the books of Beatus Rhenanus, a friend of Erasmus, and the manuscripts of the Latin school of Sélestat, which flourished around 1500. The Romanesque church of Sainte-Foy was built in the twelfth century by monks of Conques.

• The church of Saint-GeorgeGothic, with its Advent trees hung from the vaults.
• The Humanist LibraryThe books of Beatus Rhenanus, in a library reopened in 2018.
• The church of Sainte-FoyRomanesque, founded by the monks of Conques.

• October 6, at ConquesFeast of Saint Faith

• Saint FaithVirgin and martyr of Agen

• Via NativitatisThe Christmas Way, six daysDay III, Mont Sainte-Odile, then Sélestat

About twenty minutes by train from Strasbourg.

• Mont Sainte-OdileThe Convent of Saint Odile, about 13 miles as the crow flies
• ColmarThe Isenheim Altarpiece, about 13 miles as the crow flies
• StrasbourgThe Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Strasbourg, about 26 miles as the crow flies
• MarienthalThe Basilica of Notre-Dame of Marienthal, about 40 miles as the crow flies