Colmar

Colmar
The little Venice, Colmar
Coat of arms
Colmar
Location within Grand Est region  Colmar
Coordinates: 48°04′54″N 7°21′20″E / 48.0817°N 7.3556°E / 48.0817; 7.3556Coordinates: 48°04′54″N 7°21′20″E / 48.0817°N 7.3556°E / 48.0817; 7.3556
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Haut-Rhin
Arrondissement	Colmar-Ribeauvillé
Intercommunality	Communauté d'agglomération de Colmar
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Gilbert Meyer
Area1	66.57 km2 (25.70 sq mi)
Population (2013)2	67,956
• Density	1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	68066 / 68000
Dialling codes	0389
Elevation	175–214 m (574–702 ft) (avg. 197 m or 646 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Imperial City of Colmar
Ville impériale de Colmar  (French) Reichsstadt Colmer  (German)
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire
1226–1679
Capital		Colmar
Languages		Alsatian
Government		City-state
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Immediacy granted by Frederick II	1226
•	Joined Décapole	1354
•	Conquered by Louis XIV	1673
•	Ceded at Nijmegen	1679
Succeeded by [[Kingdom of France]]

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Colmar (French: Colmar, pronounced: [kɔlmaʁ]; Alsatian: Colmer [ˈkolməʁ]; German between 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: Kolmar) is the third-largest commune of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. It is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department and the arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé.

The town is situated on the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the "capital of Alsatian wine" (capitale des vins d'Alsace). The city is renowned for its well preserved old town, its numerous architectural landmarks and its museums, among which is the Unterlinden Museum with the Isenheim Altarpiece.

Colmar was founded in the 9th century, and is mentioned as Columbarium Fiscum by the monk Notker Balbulus in a text dated 823. This was the location where the Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat held a diet in 884. Colmar was granted the status of a free imperial city by Emperor Frederick II in 1226. In 1354 it joined the Décapole city league. In 1548 Josel of Rosheim urged the Reichskammergericht court to repeal the Colmar market ban on Jewish merchants.The city adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1575, long after the northern neighbours of Strasbourg and Sélestat. During the Thirty Years' War, it was taken by the Swedish army in 1632, who held it for two years. In 1635 the city's harvest was spoiled by Imperialist forces while the residents shot at them from the walls.