Waldwisse

INFORMATION

Font ID: 10128WAL
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 16th century
Church / Chapel Name: Église paroissiale Sainte-Catherine à Waldwisse
Font Location in Church: Inside the nave of the 19th-century church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Catherine of Alexandria [aka Katherine, Katharine]
Previous Font Location(s): originally from the old church
Church Notes: present church listed in Mérimée [ref.: IA00037435]: "Eglise construite en 1829, datée par travaux historiques ; la tour clocher a été reprise dans le courant du 19e siècle"
Church Address: rue de l'Eglise, 57480 Waldwisse, France
Site Location: Moselle, Grand-Est, France, Europe
Directions to Site: Located off the D855, 8 km SW of Merzig (Germany), near the border with Germany, about 50 km NNE of Metz
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse de Metz
Historical Region: Lorraine
Additional Comments: painted font
Font Notes:
Described in the Waldwisse web site [www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/pres-etab/col_sierck/[...]] as a stylised baptismal font of the 16th century located in this rather unique 19th-century church. The font was originally from the older church destroyed in the Thirty-Year War. Font listed in Palissy [ref.: IM57000684]: "Fonts baptismaux [...] Calcaire : taillé, mouluré, peint (polychrome) [...] 16e siècle (?) [...] H = 93 ; la = 80 ; pr = 90 [...] Nef". A digital photograph of 23 July 2017 by LoKiLeCh showing the font and cover may be seen in Wikimedia [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kirche_Waldwisse_6.jpg] [accessed 15 August 2025]: the font is octagonal from top to bottom in a general hour-glass shape with multile mouldings; the metal cover is round, conical in shape, and has a Latin-cross finial.

COORDINATES

UTM: 32U 320867 5476405
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 49.413928, 6.530259
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 49° 24′ 50.14″ N, 6° 31′ 48.93″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone
Font Shape: odt
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Font Height (less Plinth): 93 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 80 x 90 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * Palissy [cf. FontNotes]

LID INFORMATION

Material: metal
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Palissy (France, Ministère de la culture), France, Ministère de la culture. URL: http://www.culture.fr/public/mistral/palissy.