Musée Unterlinden & the Isenheim Altarpiece
Housed in a 13th-century Dominican convent, the Musée Unterlinden holds one of the most emotionally overwhelming paintings in European art: Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, a polyptych completed around 1515 whose depiction of Christ's crucifixion is so visceral it has moved visitors to tears for five centuries. Even travellers who don't normally seek out museums make a special journey to
The Isenheim Altarpiece up close
The altarpiece was originally created for the hospital chapel of the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Isenheim and was designed to comfort patients suffering from ergotism — a horrific skin disease. Grünewald painted Christ's body covered in plague-like sores so that the sick could identify with his suffering; the contrast with the radiant Resurrection panel is deliberately, breathtakingly extreme.
The polyptych unfolds across multiple hinged panels, and the museum displays all of them so you can walk around and absorb each scene. Allow at least 45 minutes with the altarpiece alone; the audio guide (available in English) adds crucial context about its medical and theological purpose.
The wider collection and the building
Beyond the altarpiece, the museum holds an excellent collection of Alsatian paintings, Rhine Valley sculpture, Gallo-Roman archaeology and a suite of 20th-century works including pieces by Picasso and Léger in a striking modern wing added in 2016. The cloister garden — planted with medicinal herbs echoing the convent's history — is a serene spot to decompress after the intensity of Grünewald.
The museum shop stocks high-quality art books and prints; the Unterlinden catalogue on Grünewald is the best single-volume study of the altarpiece available in English.
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