Lüztel (Lucelle). Photo/Foto: TES

Lucelle and the Landskron, a regional history of European Dimensions

France and Switzerland, the cantons of Jura and Basel-Landschaft and the Department of Haut-Rhin meet in the village of (Grand-) Lucelle (Lützel). The Cistercian abbey was founded around 1123/1124 along the little river La Lucelle (die Lützel).

Today, the river borders the Swiss canton of Jura and the French department of Haut-Rhin. In the 13th century, it ran between the Prince-Bishopric of Basel and the county of Pfirt (Ferrette).

Habsburg took over Pfirt county  in 1324. Lucelle was divided into two parts: essentially Austrian territory, including the monastery, and a small part of the territory of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel.

Around this time, the monastery, which had over 200 monks and was then a Habsburg possession, was the second richest and largest monastery in Alsace after Murbach Abbey.

An earthquake damaged the Romanesque monastery church in the early 14th century. In 1346, it was rebuilt as a high Gothic basilica. In 1375, the invading Gugler (English and French mercenaries in the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453) destroyed the monastery.

TheEidgenossen destroyed the monasteries again in 1499 after the Battle of Dornachn in the Swiss or Swabian Wah. In the German Peasants’ War of 1525, peasants from Alsac plundered it again.

However, the monastery recovered from all these events. In 1526, it doubled its territory by acquiring the seignory and castle of Löwenburg (a ruin nowadays) in the Jura. The powerful Münch family, employed by the Bishop of Basel, owned Löwenburg for a long time.


An undated drawing on one of the remaining two monastery buildings

Near this castle, the monastery built a complex of farms, storage buildings and a church. However, the monastery’s location on Austrian territory was disastrous during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). The monks fled to Löwenburg, under the Swiss Confederation’s protection, or went to abbeys in the Confederation.

In 1638, the monastery was indeed pillaged. 1648, France took possession of the Alsatian Sundgau and Lucelle, and the monastery became French. The monastery enjoyed another great heyday because of the abbots’ good relations with the French kings until 1789.

François Ignace Tavanne (1728-1811), the monastery around 1776. Collection: Musée jurassienne des Beaux Arts, Porrentruy

The revolutionary government in Paris nationalised the monastery In 1792. The government continued the former monastery factories, including a brickyard, glassworks, foundry, and tannery.

The monastery wing and church were demolished in 1804. The material was used to build a new factory with a charcoal blast furnace and foundry for the arms industry. After 1860, this industry declined, and the factory closed in 1883. The factory buildings were later demolished.

The once-mighty monastery complex has disappeared, except for two buildings along the road. The private organisation Centre Europeen de Rencontres Lucelle (CERL) uses both buildings today.

Conclusion

These regions of present-day Switzerland and France once housed the most influential European dynasties and abbey. Their history and ruins are reminiscent of those of the Landskron, which is located near Leymen (France), on the border with canton Solothurn (Switzerland).

Lac de Lucelle (Lützelsee, canton of Jura) was first used as a fishing pond by the monastery. Later, a hydroelectric power station was built to supply mills, carpentry workshops, forges and foundries. A stream feeds the small lake. Ash, maple, alder and willow grow along its banks. A beautiful beech forest surrounds the valley of Lucelle.

Cadastral drawing of the Lützelsee/ lac de Lucelle, 1803. Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt

(Source and further information: Barocke Bauwerke im Süddeutschen und schweizerischen Raum) 

The Jura