Colmar, Ger. Kolmar both: kôlmärˈ, city (1990 pop. 64,889),
capital of Haut-Rhin dept., E France, in Alsace. It is connected
by rail and canal to Strasbourg, Mulhouse, and Basel,
Switzerland. An industrial port on the Rhine, Colmar has
metallurgical, textile, and tourist industries. It became a free
city of the Holy Roman Empire in 1226, and Louis XIV made it the
capital of Alsace in 1673. The old section of Colmar retains its
medieval architecture. St. Martin's Church (13th and 15th cent.)
contains the Madonna of the Rose Arbor by Martin Schongauer, who
lived in Colmar all his life. The Unterlinden Museum, in a
convent dating from the 13th–14th cent., is outstanding; it
contains the Isenheim altarpiece by Mathias Grünewald and
numerous masterpieces of the Rhenish school of the 15th cent.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012,
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