Surbourg Collegiate Church from Biblisheim

Park in the car-share area near Biblisheim Town Hall.

(S/E) With your back to the Town Hall, leave the primary school on your left and walk along the D772 (Route de Walbourg). Take care at the right-hand bend; the road continues straight ahead (to the right is Rue de l’Église). Cross over the Sauer and carry on straight ahead until you reach the village boundary. Cross the small bridge over the Altbach.

(1) Take the first farm track on the right after the stream. Follow the ditch on your left and carry on straight ahead. Turn left onto the track before the railway line and you’ll come to a T-junction.

(2) Carry on straight ahead along this track, which makes a first turn right then a second turn left, before running alongside the railway line. Walk on until you reach the D250.

(3) Turn right, cross the bridge and follow the first farm track on the right, which runs alongside the railway line in the opposite direction. Turn left towards Scharrenberger Farm, walking past the various farm buildings; at the end, pass between the farm buildings to reach the residential houses.

(4) Take the farm track on the right, then the first on the left, which curves to the left and climbs slightly. At the junction, continue to the right along the farm track which runs alongside orchards and leads to the houses on Rue Saint-Arbogast. Take the first left, Petite Rue des Écoles, then the first right, Rue de l’École, and again the first left, Rue de l’Église. On your right, look out for the remains of the monastery’s ramparts. You will reach the collegiate church of Surbourg.

(5) Continue along Rue de l’Église. At the end, turn right onto Rue du Maréchal Leclerc. You will come out onto Rue du Général de Gaulle (D264); follow it to the right until you reach the 6th-century Christian stele.

(6) Retrace your steps and turn left into Impasse du Cheval Noir (Chemin de Compostelle). After 50 metres, take the first street on the right, Rue de l’École (Green Cross). Walk round the back of the collegiate church and you’ll come to another remnant from the monks’ era.

(7) On your right are the remains of the monastery’s ramparts. At the bend, go down the steps (Green Cross) which lead to Rue Saint-Arbogast. Turn left to reach the main road (D264), then right, heading towards the village exit, and follow the road downhill for about 500 m.

(8) Turn slightly right onto a small path that follows the route of the old railway line. Cross a private company’s access road and continue straight on along the path (Green Cross) towards the forest until you reach the tarmac road.

(9) Leave the old railway line and take the forest track diagonally to the right (Green Cross). Cross the railway line. At the junction, continue along the track on the right and, at the next junction, take the one on the left. You will reach a tarmac road, the Route de l’Oberstritten.

(10) Turn right onto it and follow it to the entrance to the village of Biblisheim.

(11) Take the first street on the left, Rue de la Forêt, then follow the cycle path to the right, which will take you straight back to the car park near the town hall (S/E).

For families, I recommend setting off from Surbourg and having a picnic at the Biblisheim playground. The walk can be done either way: it’s up to you whether you want to start with the fields or the forest.

Former Collegiate Church of Saint Arbogast

The abbey’s origins date back to the second half of the 6th century, when Saint Arbogast was Bishop of Strasbourg, but the present church dates mainly from the^first half of the 11th century (early Alsatian Romanesque).
The building is laid out on a basilica plan with three covered naves, ending in a transept and semi-circular apses. Inside, the large arches rest on alternating supports: columns with cubic capitals and masonry piers with a single impost. Of particular note is the quality of the masonry, laid in small rubble stone alternating red and grey sandstone (on the exterior of the nave and the chevet of the northern apsidal chamber), as well as the decorative carving on the facing stones (the interior piers of the nave).