Freiburg Münster (Minster)
You get a sense of the magnificence of this cathedral long before you reach the doors and catch glimpses of the spire, a masterpiece of filigree stonework that has risen above the roofs of Freiburg for almost 8 centuries. Jacob Burckhardt, the 19th-century Swiss historian of art and culture, said it “will forever remain the most beautiful spire on earth,” and so far, his words appear to be holding true. The tower’s longevity and miraculous survival during World War II bombing raids are attributed not to divine intervention but to some sound 13th-century engineering and the use of lead anchors. Those early masterminds never saw the enormous church completed, as it took 4 centuries before the last stones were put in place and the cathedral’s style had transformed from Romanesque to Gothic. The carvings around the main doors are lessons in stone, intended to teach the illerate parables from the Old and New Testaments. Inside are two of the great masterpieces of Germany’s so-called Northern Renaissance, both altarpieces, one by Hans Baldung (1484–1545) and the other by Hans Holbein (1497–1543), probably the most renowned German artist of his time. Baldung’s is a monumental 12-paneled portrayal of the Coronation of the Virgin with scenes from her life, all rendered in the bright colors and showing the tranquil expressions that are hallmarks of this artist who learned his craft from the great Albrecht Dürer. Only two panels of Holbein’s work remain, depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Three Magi; the other pieces were allegedly destroyed when Holbein’s Catholic imagery fell out of favor during the Protestant Reformation.
In Münsterplatz, across from the cathedral, is the brick-red Kaufhaus (Customs House), a medieval emporium with an arcaded balcony and hands down the most colorful and charming structure in Frieburg. The four statues above the balcony are of Hapsburg emperors, who ruled Freiburg for 4 centuries, until the early 19th century.
You get a sense of the magnificence of this cathedral long before you reach the doors and catch glimpses of the spire, a masterpiece of filigree stonework that has risen above the roofs of Freiburg for almost 8 centuries. Jacob Burckhardt, the 19th-century Swiss historian of art and culture, said it “will forever remain the most beautiful spire on earth,” and so far, his words appear to be holding true. The tower’s longevity and miraculous survival during World War II bombing raids are attributed not to divine intervention but to some sound 13th-century engineering and the use of lead anchors. Those early masterminds never saw the enormous church completed, as it took 4 centuries before the last stones were put in place and the cathedral’s style had transformed from Romanesque to Gothic. The carvings around the main doors are lessons in stone, intended to teach the illerate parables from the Old and New Testaments. Inside are two of the great masterpieces of Germany’s so-called Northern Renaissance, both altarpieces, one by Hans Baldung (1484–1545) and the other by Hans Holbein (1497–1543), probably the most renowned German artist of his time. Baldung’s is a monumental 12-paneled portrayal of the Coronation of the Virgin with scenes from her life, all rendered in the bright colors and showing the tranquil expressions that are hallmarks of this artist who learned his craft from the great Albrecht Dürer. Only two panels of Holbein’s work remain, depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Three Magi; the other pieces were allegedly destroyed when Holbein’s Catholic imagery fell out of favor during the Protestant Reformation.
In Münsterplatz, across from the cathedral, is the brick-red Kaufhaus (Customs House), a medieval emporium with an arcaded balcony and hands down the most colorful and charming structure in Frieburg. The four statues above the balcony are of Hapsburg emperors, who ruled Freiburg for 4 centuries, until the early 19th century.
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