Freiburg Münster.

[sister_luck]

Because frances_lievens was first to comment, I'm starting my Freiburg picspam with the cathedral and I'm struggling with all the architectural terms. I don't know them properly in German, let alone in English, so please ignore all abuses and misuses!



Alas, I seem to be slightly unlucky with church towers recently. When I wanted to show off the cathedral in Cologne to Frances it had scaffolding and now the "most beautiful tower in all of Christendom", as Jacob Burckhardt is quoted as saying, has been obscured by metal rails and platforms. Here you can see it from several streets away:



It truly is a spectacular tower - actually it's an exoskeleton and more or less hollow inside. We didn't walk up this time, but I can remember being wowed by the dodecagonal star gallery and the octagonal tower when I was on a visit to Freiburg at age 16 or so.

This is one of the smaller towers and one of the many gargoyle waterspouts:



This is a view of parts of the market and the spätgotische Chor: (As an aside: in German the term choir or quire seems to be used more broadly than in English.)



Like most cathedrals this one has parts that were added in different time periods: Here you can see the renaissance entrance hall and behind it some early 13th century parts:



By the way, this Münster isn't monastic in origin. In the south of Germany the term Münster applied to churches that were owned by the people of a city.

This is the doorway of the main entrance at the west end:



The carved figures are amazing, but there the netting protecting it from the pigeons ruins the view.

That's it for today! There is more to see inside and I might show you more of the portal, netting be damned.

Comments

[simonf.livejournal.com]

I was there in 1990. It's a lovely city. Thanks for the pics of the cathedral, they're smashing :).

[gillo]

It is a beautiful city, and I love the cathedral. The English equivalent of Munster is Minster - as in York, Beverley and as part of the name Westminster.

Really nice photos - thanks for sharing.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

I know - I love York Minster - but because the Southern German meaning is so different I didn't change it.

Did you get to see the tower without scaffolding when you were there? I was really disappointed!

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Hee, I think that was the year I was there, too! So, what was the occasion of your visit?

I'm glad you enjoyed the pics.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Totally love those carved figures!

Ooh, do you remember we wanted to go into the Cathedral in Köln and there was some sort of mass for youngsters going on, and outside we had those Hare Krishna folks... It really was a religious day in Köln that time. *g*

[gillo]

There was no scaffolding, but there was torrential rain instead, so we didn't get as good a look as I'd have liked.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

It was a day excursion during a family holiday, we were staying in a gite across the border.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that part of Europe is definitely great for country-jumping excursions.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Oh no, what a shame! A rainy day in Germany's suniest city.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was a bit of a letdown. Sorry! I think it was just a regular mass, but the Hare Krishnas were definitely out of the ordinary.

[gillo]

Yes, it was a great shame. We had several very wet days on that holiday; fortunately there's a lot to see in that area that's inside - Colmar is as fabulous as Freiburg, for example.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Colmar is great - with the Unterlinden museum and the Madonna im Rosengarten. I don't remember that much of my visit(s) there, but I was still in my teens. I think they've got a Guérnica tapestry there as well.

I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't have the time to go there. We really should have stayed longer, but that would have meant leaving earlier and I just wasn't done with my school stuff. (Gah, procrastination getting in the way!)