Notre-Dame des Trois-Épis

Ammerschwihr

The sanctuary of Les Trois-Épis is the only recognised site of a Marian apparition in Alsace and one of the oldest of its kind validated by the Church. According to the tradition upheld by the sanctuary, on 3 May 1491 a blacksmith from Orbey named Thierry Schoeré (Dietrich Schoere), on his way to market at Niedermorschwihr, stopped before an image of the Virgin fixed to an oak: the Virgin appeared to him holding three ripe ears of wheat in one hand and a hailstone in the other, the former promising abundance to the repentant, the latter announcing hail, frost and famine to sinners. Some early accounts move the event to 14 September 1491, a sign that the exact date belongs to tradition rather than to any notarial record. A wooden chapel was raised as early as the summer of 1491, replaced by a stone building between 1493 and 1503, so greatly did the crowds grow. The sanctuary was ravaged during the Thirty Years' War, then rebuilt along with a convent that housed several religious communities in succession. In 1864, workmen unearthed a copper cauldron full of ex-votos and coins, buried around 1632 by the chaplain as Swedish troops approached; a selection is kept at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar. The chapel has been registered as a monument historique since 1988, and the pilgrimage, never interrupted, reaches its peak each year around the date of the apparition.

Trois-Épis — Wikipédia ↗

Getting there : The hamlet of Les Trois-Épis is reached by car from Ammerschwihr, Niedermorschwihr or Labaroche by winding mountain roads; car park on site. The pilgrimage chapel and the church of the Annunciation stand side by side on the route de Labaroche, free admission during opening hours. Starting point for many Vosges footpaths, including the one to the Galtz and its monumental statue of Christ the King.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound