Despite all these torments, history has left us with a truly remarkable monument
Built to a unique design, a centralised plan, an octagonal shape

After the official recognition of christianism by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313, the basilical plan in the shape of a Latin cross was adopted by a large majority of christian communities for the construction of their places of worship. And throughout the different eras whatever the style was, be it Roman, Gothic, baroque, classical or even modern, this same plan has always been the most often favoured.

Almost with the very first constructions, the centralised plan also came into being, albeit on a lesser scale. The centralised plan where all the elements of the edifice converge at the centre. A square to portray the earth and its four elements ; water, earth, air and fire. Its four seasons and the four cardinal points. At the center, a circle to portray the perfect figure of the heavens, of paradise towards the centre of an octagon to represent the seven days of creation plus an eighth day as a symbol of the resurrection. An expression of eternity.

This plan was at first reserved for small structures such as a mausoleum housing the remains of an important figure: a king, an emperor, a nobleman, a holy man. For a baptistery or for a small chapel and later an everyday place of worship.

This type of centralised plan was first used in the Middle-East in Palestine on the site of the tomb of Christ, the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The church of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Byzantium or what is today Constantinople. Later, the Byzantine Emperors reconquered Northern Italy and exported the plan towards the western world with the eight-sided church of Saint Vital in Ravenna which was consecrated in 547.



Emperor Charlemagne who strived to attain distinction in the image of the Roman Emperors took this architectural masterpiece as his model for the building of the Palatine Chapel in his capital Aix-la-Chapelle. This chapel was to become a reference for Christian art especially under the Ottonian emperors of the Holy German Empire and, as such, was often copied throughout Europe.


And, as it was considered to be the most beautiful of all Christian churches, Rodolphe d’Altenbourg chose it as his model when he had Ottmarsheim Abbey built. All the churches of the 9th and 10th centuries, including Ottmarsheim, would later be classified by art historians as pre-Roman or Ottonian.

There are very few churches in France built to the eight-sided plan and Ottmarsheim Abbey is the only one in Alsace.

And this is where its originality lies. Two smaller structures in Alsace also adopted the centralised plan: a circular one for Saint Ulrich’s Baptistry in Alvolsheim and a square one for Saint Margaret’s Chapel in Epfig.