Freiburg Minster

Freiburg Münster
Freiburg Münster
The Cathedral of Our Lady
Freiburger Münster
	Freiburg Münster
	47°59′44″N 7°51′11″E / 47.99556°N 7.85306°E
Location	Freiburg im Breisgau
Country	Germany
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	Website of the Cathedral
History
Status	Active
Founded	1200
Founder(s)	Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen
Architecture
Functional status	Cathedral
Administration
Archdiocese	Archdiocese of Freiburg

Freiburg Minster (German: Freiburger Münster or Münster Unserer Lieben Frau) is the cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau, southwest Germany. The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style. The construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style. The minster was partly built on the foundations of an original church that had been there from the beginning of Freiburg, in 1120.

In the Middle Ages, Freiburg lay in the Diocese of Konstanz. In 1827, Freiburg Minster became the seat of the newly established Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg, and thus a cathedral.

Architecture

The Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt once said that the church's 116-meter tower will forever remain the most beautiful spire on earth.^[1] His remark gave rise to the frequently heard misquote of the most beautiful tower in the whole of Christianity.

The tower is nearly square at the base, and at its centre is the dodecagonal star gallery. Above this gallery, the tower is octagonal and tapered, and above this, is the spire.

It is the only Gothic church tower in Germany that was completed in the Middle Ages (1330), and has lasted until the present, surviving the bombing raids of November 1944, which destroyed all of the houses on the west and north side of the market. The tower was subject to severe vibration at the time, and its survival of these vibrations is attributed to its lead anchors, which connect the sections of the spire. The windows had been taken out of the spire at the time by church staff led by Monsignor Max Fauler, and so these also suffered no damage.^[2]

Freiburg Minster was not the seat of a bishop until 1827, long after it was built.

The tower has 16 bells, the oldest being the "Hosanna" bell from 1258, which weighs 3,290 kilograms. This bell can be heard on Thursday evening after the Angelus, on Friday at 11:00 am (a time consequently known as "Spätzleglocke"), on Saturday evenings, and each year on 27 November in remembrance of the air raid.

Interior

There are two important altars inside the cathedral: the high altar of Hans Baldung, and another altar of Hans Holbein the Younger in a side chapel.

The inner portal contains sculptures of the Ten Virgins.^[3]

The nave windows were donated by the guilds, and the symbols of the guilds are featured on them. The deep red color in some of the windows is not the result of a dye, but instead the result of a suspension of solid gold nanoparticles.^[4]

In 2003, the Lenten cloth was restored and backed with a supporting material. It now weighs over a ton, and so must be carried from the workshop with heavy machinery for its use during Lent.^{[citation needed]}

Bells

The cathedral holds 19 bells, altogether 25 tonnes, making it one of the largest peals in Germany.

Nr.	name	year cast	caster's name	cast at	diameter	measures	chime
1	Christus (Bourdon Bell)	1959	Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling	Heidelberg	2133 mm	6856 kg	g⁰
2	Petrus				1774 mm	3917 kg	bes⁰
3	Paulus				1566 mm	2644 kg	c¹
4	Maria				1490 mm	2290 kg	d¹
5	Hosanna	1258	anonymous		1610 mm	3290 kg	es¹
6	Josef	1959	Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling	Heidelberg	1242 mm	1354 kg	f¹
7	Nikolaus				1095 mm	958 kg	g¹
8	Johannes				1081 mm	913 kg	a¹
9	Jakobus				1022 mm	803 kg	bes¹
10	Konrad				903 mm	560 kg	c²
11	Bernhard				798 mm	381 kg	d²
12	Lambert und Alexander				670 mm	212 kg	f²
13	Michael				594 mm	149 kg	g²
14	Schutzengel				575 mm	150 kg	a²
15	Odilia				505 mm	112 kg	c³
16	Magnificat				456 mm	79 kg	d³
17	Vesperglöckchen	1606	Hans Ulrich Bintzlin	Breisach	510 mm	70 kg	b²
18	Silberglöckchen	13th century	anonymous		352 mm	33 kg	f³
19	Taufglocke	13th/14th century	anonymous		550 mm	95 kg	a²

Burials

Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen
The Locherer family (altarpiece by Hans Sixt)

Legal situation

From the time of its construction, the cathedral was not owned by the Roman Catholic Church but by the people of Freiburg. In the Middle Ages, the situation changed so that the building was self-owned, and administered by a guardian appointed by the people of the city. More recently, the Münsterbauverein association was created, which now legally owns the cathedral.

Conservation

For the conservation of the cathedral, the Freiburger Münsterbauverein ("Freiburg Minster-Upkeep Association") was established. The association invests several million euros each year in the care and maintenance of the building and its interior. The present architect in charge is Yvonne Faller and the chair of the association is Sven von Ungern-Sternberg.