104 Strasbourg, France, S Pierre le Jeune, Protestant church.

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Saint Peter the Younger protestant church is not named after a different Saint Peter who was younger than the guy with the big keys ! It is just that it was built when there was already a Saint Peter’s church in Strasbourg, and so when it was finished the other church became Saint Peter the older (Saint Pierre le vieux). This latter is sadly in disrepair and closed now. Just to confuse the tourist even more there is another St Peter the Younger a couple of hundred yards away, which is a Catholic chuch. So, here’s the story : the congregation of Saint Peter the Younger, in the early sixteenth century, decided to follow the cool influencer Martin Luther and his Reformation deal, so the parish became protestant. A good time later, when the Catholics and Protestants had decided to live in relative calm together, the king was concerned about the lack of enough Catholic churches in Strasbourg. So this church was divided in two : one chunk being used by the Catholics and the other by the Protestants, until the new Catholic church of (you are following aren’t you ?) St Peter the Younger was built up the road and the present church was once again only for Protestant worship.

Beautiful coloured screen dividing the church, frescoes on the wall including a lovely long wavy haired Christ doing his thing. I liked the baptismal font.






























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