The church of Saint-Étienne in Tarquimpol – like most others in the region – is unfortunately usually locked. On our last visit, however, some people were standing in the street talking; we asked them where we could get a key to the church and they told us an address in the small village. When I rang the bell there and made my request, I was asked very sternly what I wanted in the church! When I said I wanted to take photographs, I was asked why! In my fantastic school French I tried to explain that I was running a website about Round Tower Churches. Well, obviously the lessons with Mr Goertz were enough to satisfy her, for I finally received the key. Unfortunately, the photos inside didn’t turn out very well, as I had forgotten – as I often do – to remove the polarising filter from the lens… So we’ll have to go through the procedure again sometime.

You enter the church through the round west tower, and in this room there is a ladder to climb the tower (we didn’t), and also a statue of the Virgin Mary. The tower is Romanesque, probably from the 12th century, and the Gothic choir is from the 14th century. The windows are all stained glass. Worth seeing are the two side altars with figures of the Mother of God with Child and Saint Stephen (“Étienne”). A modern altar now stands in the pointed chancel arch; behind it in the chancel, first a very simple baptismal font, and finally, in the rear part, the old high altar. On the walls of the nave hangs a Stations of the Cross, and other figures of saints are mounted, as well as in a niche north of the door to the nave. To the south is an old confessional.