Despite all these torments, history has left us with a truly remarkable monument
Adorned with frescos

In keeping with traditional Roman art, the internal walls and arches of the church were probably adorned with frescos. Unfortunately, the fire started by the troops of the bishop of Basle who was at war with the Habsburgs totally wiped out this ancient decoration.

Immediately afterwards in 1460, with great courage and perseverance, the Abbess Elizabeth of Blumeneck undertook the task of readorning the church with new wall paintings. But the troubles of the period kept her from completing the work. Later, during renovation of the church to repair the damage sustained during the Thirty Years War, the frescos were covered with roughcasting.

It was quite by accident that in 1875 during new renovation work the frescos were rediscovered and the roughcasting was removed to reveal them.

Today we can admire a very interesting collection be it from an artistic point of view or from historical and religious interest. In the lower ambulatory there is a remarkable representation of Pope Saint-Gregory’s mass in the presence of a very elegant abbess.


Towards the door of the sacristy, three historical frescos portray the members of Rodolphe’s family. In one we can see Rodolphe and his brother Radbot in front of Lanzelin, their father, and in another the Pope Leon IX giving his blessing to Rodolphe and his wife.



On the arches of the ambulatory, opposite the Holy Cross Chapel there is a representation of the symbols of the four evangelists ; the angel of Saint Matthew, the bull of Saint Luke, the lion of Saint Mark and the eagle of Saint John. This fresco was repainted by a Munich painter during quite clumsy restoration work in 1903.


In the eighties, all the other paintings were rid of their repainted parts and, even though it meant leaving blank the parts that with time had disappeared, their original colours and drawings were rediscovered. It is in this way that the work of the 15th century painters was respected.
The richest frescos are to be found in the upper choir and in the barrel vault just before it.


The choir vault is dedicated to the representation of Saint Peter, on his throne, surrounded by angels and with the pontifical tiara on his head.
The scene is completed by the symbols of the four evangelists where we can appreciate the original finesse of the painting and the soft shades of the colours which are so much in contrast with the clumsiness of the restoration done on the same subject on the floor below.

On the walls of the choir there is a strip painting depicting certain episodes in the life of Saint Peter. For example, Jesus handing over the keys to the disciple Peter.


One of the most magnificent paintings is on the barrel vault opposite the choir. It is a representation of the Last Judgement, , a scene which is very often reproduced and copied and which could be found in the 15th century on the polyptych of Van de Weyden at the Hôtel Dieu in Beaune or on certain engravings of the Colmarian painter Martin Schongauer who transposed the scene on the inside of the western wall of Saint Steven’s church in Vieux-Breisach, Germany.


Christ is enthroned on a rainbow linking heaven to earth and with his right hand raised is calling the righteous to resurrect. The hand is turned towards the east in the direction of the rising sun thus symbolising life and light. While the left hand is held downwards and sentencing the damned to the fires of hell. The left hand is turned towards the west in the direction of the setting sun thus symbolizing darkness and death.
Opposite this fresco is a powerful representation of the angel Gabriel , overcoming the demon, sin, and carrying out the weighing of souls.

Interested visitors will discover commented reproductions of other frescos in the handbook available in the church.