Pulpit of St. Stephen's Cathedral
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The pulpit of St. Stephen's Cathedral (also Pilgram pulpit ) in Vienna is a Gothic sculptural work in the middle of the nave . It was made from Breitenbrunn sand-lime brick between 1510 and 1515 . Their tendrils and figures are extremely delicate and have a high artistic status.
The sculptural masterpiece is rich in symbolism and bears the portraits of the four Latin church fathers and the "window gazer", a self-portrait of the master of the pulpit. Until the Second World War, a sound cover was attached to the pulpit . Contrary to popular belief, the work of art was not designed and created by Anton Pilgram , but by a master who succeeded Niclas Gerhaert van Leyden . The pulpit has been renovated several times, removing the old paint.
In the past centuries the pulpit was often the site of significant disputes, today it is only used on special occasions.
history
In a poem from 1547, verses 455-468 read:
“The preaching chair I peek at thought
, where does a person live who can
do such subtle things from Von stainwerg?
My heart for joy I thet laugh.
The little children, just as they
fed themselves in the run , turned up.
Also some krot edex and snake
in stain hawked in the aisle
they crouched, puffed about themselves
As free as were alive.
The master, who pawed this stuck,
has so artificially pawed himself in.
In stain at the preaching chair sain
hauß Schawt down to the window. "
The Maximilian Altar, which was removed in 1885, used to stand on the same pillar. The base of the pulpit has been surrounded by a grille since the second half of the 19th century.
The sculpture was created between 1510 and 1515, according to another opinion as early as 1500.
The pulpit must have been completed by 1515 at the latest, at least to the point where it could serve as a model. It has a “failed” descendant, the late Gothic pulpit in the Eggenburg parish church , which was made in 1515.
Sculpture has always aroused general admiration for the extremely delicate execution of its tendrils and figures, unfamiliar for stone work .
Due to the delicacy of the shapes, damage was inevitable. Older restorations are recorded from 1597 and 1652. After the pulpit pillar began to lower, it had to be propped up in 1870; A thorough restoration was carried out between 1878 and 1880: the pulpit was dismantled, removed and the old oil paint was removed. However, this also completely removed the old painting underneath.
The base of the pulpit in particular has been damaged over time, broken corners, edges, finials, crabs and the like. were added.
After the addition or thorough restoration, all parts were reassembled. The inscription REN under the window peeper. AD 1880 and the stonemason's mark of the builder Friedrich von Schmidt on the restoration.
The technical virtuosity of the base, which is carved out of three blocks of stone and not made up of individual parts, suggests a division of labor between sculptor and stonemason, as is the case with such a complex work of art.
The drawing of a sacrament house in the cathedral, which no longer exists and which strongly resembles the pulpit, bears the inscription "Michel Fröschl die zeit paw maister hie zu Wien" and refers to the stonemason who has been in office since 1517 as parlier and since 1526 as master builder .
The pulpit has long been attributed to the cathedral builder Anton Pilgram, but it was designed by a master in the footsteps of Niclas Gerhaert van Leyden . Since Pilgram's stonemason mark is placed next to the window gazer, it is assumed that he was at least involved in the execution.
In previous centuries, the cathedral pulpit was often the site of dramatic disputes.
On January 12, 1522, during the Reformation , Bishop Georg von Slatkonia left the pulpit to the Protestant preacher Paul Speratus . This spoke in front of the assembled religious of Vienna and called for the withdrawal from their convents.
St. Peter Canisius also preached from the pulpit; he was the first German Jesuit and cathedral preacher of St. Stephen's Church.
Cardinal Innitzer gave a historic sermon to the youth there on October 7, 1938, in the middle of the time of National Socialist rule in Austria .
"Only one is your leader, Jesus Christ!"
These words and the subsequent rally by the youngsters resulted in the Hitler Youth storming the archbishop's palace the next day .
Today the pulpit is only used for sermons during Advent and Lent as well as on the first Friday of the month, Sacred Heart Friday. Visitors to the cathedral are not allowed to enter.
description
From the giant gate , the pulpit stands on the second pillar of the northern row of pillars. The staircase is on the north side of this pillar in the left aisle. From there, 15 steps lead in a semicircle along the east side of the same pillar to the pulpit.
Rise
The entrance to the pulpit leads through an arch. At the top of the railing sits a stone dog - popularly known as the fearless dog - who is supposed to “watch” that no animal reaches the preacher.
The handrail is populated by frogs and amphibians who bite into each other and thus symbolize the fight between good and evil. The lizards and amphibians that come to the sun symbolize good, the frogs that stay in swamps and avoid daylight represent evil.
The railing of the pulpit consists of tracery circles, which are alternately filled with three or four snows . The three-part whirl clockwise, the four-part in the opposite direction.
Doggy without fear
Frogs and amphibians symbolize the fight between good and evil
Three-pass and four-pass
Figures at the rise
| figure | description | Damage or revision | size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faith | female figure with cross | New | 35 cm |
| hope | female figure with anchor | New | 35 cm |
| love | female figure with heart | New | 35 cm |
| Doggy without fear | shaggy pooch | Ears, lower jaw, left front leg added | 12 cm |
| Window viewer | Portrait of the Master | heavily revised | 64:52:33 cm |
Pulpit base
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The foot of the pulpit begins with a six-pass through which a hexagon passes. In the second stage, smaller hexagons split off over the circular lobes of the six-point pass, which are converted into swiveled hexagons on the path of the six-pointed star. The parts have now finally detached themselves from the core of the foot.
In six small pillars, each with three niches, there are figures of saints under canopies that end in narrow turrets. Above the hexagon of the base, a large hexagonal star merges in many gradations into an aligned hexagon that has deep niches with larger apostle figures on all sides .
One main pillar and six secondary pillars form the floor plan. Relatively heavy arches rest on the pillars that separate the niches on the main pillar and join the neighboring secondary pillars; in doing so they break through the canopy turrets. A little higher, curved buttresses detach from the inner side of the secondary pillars, two from each secondary pillar split and meet at the edge of the main pillar with those of the secondary pillar. Two each have a spherical capital with a slender turret that leans against the core of the base.
The six smaller pillars end in two-part foliage capitals. On these sit pairs of fighters who diverge towards the front. Slightly downward sloping finials break out over each pair of fighters.
From the pairs of fighters go out in two layers of keel arches which, like canopies, are curved outward and richly decorated; the outer smaller arches also have spherical leaf capitals on which the pillars stand that separate the church fathers on the parapet. Backwards, turrets grow out, curve inward, run through each other and end at the spherical capitals of the neighboring arches.
At the back of the fighters rise the large arches of the second layer. They soon bulge forward and break through the top plate of the parapet base with their tips. While the small arches connect the pillars, the large arches run through each other and each jump over a pillar.
The compact core of the main pillar swings outwards in a slight curve and merges into slabs lying on top of one another in the form of swiveled hexagons, so that the parapet begins with twelve points. There is a point under each church father and under the pillars.
The dividing pillars are stepped and have small apostles under multi-towered canopies on their fronts in shallow niches. Canopies also crown the reliefs of the church fathers. A similar paving work begins above the reliefs as below the parapet.
Pulpit
The endeavor not to allow fixed boundaries to arise can be seen where the undergrowth of the pulpit cage grows into the parapet. There, the parapet gradually emerges from the layered panels. This is also the case at the upper end of the pulpit parapet, where the pointed canopies and turrets grow into the slabwork.
The figures on the secondary pillars are much lower than those on the main pillar and are also a third smaller and narrower, because the steps on the main and secondary pillars do not meet at the same height below the chalice.
About the "stone flower" portraits of the four Latin symbolize Fathers also the four temperaments and the four ages .
On the far left is St. Augustine with a miter , book and an inkwell, to the right of him Pope Gregory the Great with a papal crown, in his hand a magnifying glass and a book. It follows Jerome with the cardinal's hat and a book. The portraits close on the right with St. Ambrose with miter and book.
Augustine
Gregory the Great
Jerome
Ambrose
Figures on the main pillar
| figure | description | Damage or revision | size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apostle Peter | with a big key | Head revised | 36 cm |
| Apostle Andrew | with St. Andrew's cross | Parts of the cross and right hand added | 36 cm |
| Apostle John | with mug | new (1880) | 36 cm |
| Apostle James the Elder J. | with rod | New | 36 cm |
| Apostle James the Elder Ä. | with sword | New | 36 cm |
| Apostle Paul | with sword and book | New | 36 cm |
Figures on the secondary pillars
| figure | description | Damage or revision | size |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Ottilie | with a book and two eyes on it | Head new | 24 cm |
| St. Notburga | with bread rolls | left forearm broken off | 24 cm |
| St. Hedwig | with church and shoes | - | 24 cm |
| St. Nicholas of Bari | with book and bread | Head revised | 24 cm |
| St. Leopold | with church and ducal hat | - | 24 cm |
| St. Koloman | with a pilgrim hat and rope around his neck | Partly damaged rope | 24 cm |
| St. Elizabeth | with mug | Head and right hand new | 24 cm |
| St. Barbara | with tower | heavily revised | 24 cm |
| St. Catherine | with sword, wheel and headband | revised | 24 cm |
| St. Stefan | with deacon dress and stone | New | 24 cm |
| St. Laurence | with rust | New | 24 cm |
| St. Sebastian | with arrow | New | 24 cm |
| St. Walpurga | with bread | Face damaged | 24 cm |
| St. Mary Magdalene | with ointment vessel | Head new, right hand damaged | 24 cm |
| St. Johanna | with an ointment vessel wrapped in a cloth | - | 24 cm |
| St. Othmar | with wine barrel | Head new, otherwise heavily revised | 24 cm |
| St. Paulinus of Nola | with chain and jug | Head new, right hand missing, heavily reworked | 24 cm |
| St. Bonifacius (?) | in monk's habit and with a book | - | 24 cm |
Figures on the pulpit parapet
| figure | description | Damage or revision | size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apostle Matthew | with payment board | - | 34 cm |
| Apostle Bartholomew | with a knife | New | 35 cm |
| Apostle Thomas | with angle measure | Lance missing, new | 35 cm |
| Apostle Matthias | with lance | New | 35 cm |
| Apostle Jude Thaddaeus | with club | Wrinkles damaged | 33 cm |
Sound cover
The sound cover made of oak and linden wood was attached to an iron rod on the church pillar. As part of the reconstruction after the Second World War , the reliefs on the baptismal font depicting the seven sacraments revealed that the lid originally hung over the baptismal font in the chancel, but was later converted into the sounding lid of the pulpit for centuries. It has been hanging over the baptismal font in St. Catherine's Chapel since the Second World War.
It has the shape of a tower and, despite its heptagonal shape, is much simpler than the pulpit itself. Two swiveled, seven-pointed stars, surrounded by a fourteen-sided collar, form the underside, which is concave in its middle part, somewhat like a canopy . In the center the dove of the Holy Spirit is surrounded by seven winged angel heads, one is missing. Angels hover in various positions at the ends of the star's rays. The tower rises from the fourteen-sided collar as a seven-sided pyramid. The seven corners of the plinth carry seven angels making music or praying. Above this, in seven right-angled niches, separated by pillar walls with turrets and trumpet-blowing angels, the seven sacraments are depicted in relief. After another wreath of turrets, the helmet rises steeply and slim.
In the upper half stand on consoles Jesus Christ , John the Baptist and an angel representing the baptism of Christ. The spire above ends in a delicate finial.
The sound cover has been renovated several times, most thoroughly together with the pulpit. The painting was also renewed. Efforts were made to repaint the old remains found: the bare parts flesh-colored, hair, attributes, wings, gilded garment hems, the heptagonal star of the canopy on the underside blue, the dove silver with red feet and a red beak and everything else stone-colored .
stone
The remains of the original pulpit consist of a very fine-grained, yellowish-white Leithak limestone , individual pieces of which are similar to fine Margarethen stone , but differ in their lower hardness. Other parts like the parapet with Pope Gregory are made of a pure white stone. Both varieties connected by transitions can be called the Breitenbrunner stone . The determination of the stones was made particularly difficult by the fact that their surface had turned yellow due to remnants of old paint, and in places deep brown, and almost no fresh fracture surfaces were accessible.
Painting
The pulpit could only be given a thorough renovation after the old paint was removed. Allegedly, traces of gilding are said to have been noticed in the hair of the church fathers. Today the pulpit is unpainted, but there are still some traces of paint to be seen.
Window viewer
The window viewer is located in the lower part of the stairs .
He is the plastic self-portrait of a previously unknown master. He looks confident; the circle held in his hand identifies him as a builder. For a long time it was thought to be a portrait of Pilgram, the main indication of which was a stonemason's mark Pilgram above the figure. However, since Pilgram's secured self-portrait on the organ base shows many differences, doubts about Pilgram's authorship have been raised. However, the latest research considers this to be entirely possible.
One of the earliest television series for Austrian radio in the field of culture was entitled Der Fenstergucker . This could be seen in the signature .
According to one story , if you walk around the pulpit three times and ask: "Hansl, what are you doing now?" , The window- gazer gives no answer twice. But the third time he says: "Nothing!"
- Paintings
Richard Moser :
The pilgrimage pulpit in St. Stephen's Cathedral.
1916, watercolor on paper, 16 × 11.5 cm
Ludwig Rösch :
The pilgrimage pulpit in St. Stephan.
By 1936 at the latest, pastel on paper, 65 × 52 cm
literature
- Ignaz Schlosser: The pulpit and the organ base at St. Stefan in Vienna . Logos publishing house. Vienna 1925. ( Google Books )
- Reinhard H. Gruber: The St. Stephan cathedral in Vienna. Metropolitan, Cathedral and Parish Church of St. Stephen and All Saints, Episcopal Church of the Archdiocese of Vienna. Patronage: December 26th (Arch-Martyr Stephen) and November 1st (All Saints' Day). Office of the church master of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna 1998, pp. 41–43. ( Google Books )
- Christoph Gerhardt: The dog that barks at lizards, snakes and toads. To the staircase of the pulpit in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. In: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte. Vol. 38, 1985, ISSN 0083-9981 , pp. 115-132, 291-294. ( Google Books )
- Fritz Damerius: Breitenbrunn. History and stories. Authors' publishing house Gerbgruben, Neusiedl 2003, ISBN 3-902119-03-9 , pp. 365–379: Steinbruch .
- Dehio-Handbuch, the art monuments of Austria. Topographical inventory of monuments. Department: Vienna. Volume 1: Wolfgang Czerny: I. District - Inner City. Schroll, Vienna a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-85028-366-6 , p. 215.
- Alois Kieslinger : The stones of St. Stephan. Herald. Vienna 1949, p. 266 ff. ( Google Books )
- Hans Tietze: History and description of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna . Benno Filser Verlag. Vienna 1931. pp. 310–321. ( Google Books )
Web links
- Stephansdom.at: Description of the cathedral pulpit
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cathedral and Metropolitan Parish Saint Stephan (ed.): St. Stephen's Cathedral: History, Monuments, Reconstruction. Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna 1948, p. 43.
- ↑ a b c d Dehio s. Lit. , p. 215.
- ↑ a b c Stephansdom.at , accessed on December 13, 2011.
- ↑ Gruber s. Lit. , p. 64 (see stephansdom.at , accessed on December 2, 2012).
- ↑ a b c d e Schlosser s. Lit , p. 10.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Gruber s. Lit. , p. 43.
- ↑ a b c Gruber s. Lit. , p. 41.
- ↑ Locksmith s. Lit , p. 23.
- ↑ a b c d e Schlosser s. Lit , p. 18 f.
- ^ Karl Halbauer: Predigstül. The late Gothic pulpits in the Württemberg Neckar region up to the introduction of the Reformation (= publications of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Series B: Research. Vol. 132). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013144-3 , p. 229 (also: Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 1990).
- ↑ Locksmith s. Lit , p. 14
- ^ Entry on Eggenburg in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon ). Retrieved December 4, 2012.
- ↑ The exterior restoration of the Eggenburg parish church . Federal Monuments Office. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
- ↑ Kieslinger s. Lit. , p. 266 ff.
- ↑ a b Damerius s. Lit. , pp. 365-379
- ↑ Tietze s. Lit. , pp. 310-321.
- ↑ Gerhardt s. Lit. , pp. 115-132 and 291-294.
- ↑ a b c Gruber s. Lit. , p. 42.
- ↑ Renata Kassal-Mikula: 850 years of St. Stephen. Symbol and center in Vienna 1147–1997 . Self-published by the Museums of the City of Vienna, Vienna 1997, p. 159 .
- ^ Friedl Hofbauer , Cornelia Buchinger, Barbara Waldschütz: Zahnweh, Tod und Teufel. Legends and stories about St. Stephen's Cathedral. 2nd Edition. Dachs-Verlag, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85191-126-1 , p. 92 (see haben.at , accessed on December 13, 2011).
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 30.5 ″ N , 16 ° 22 ′ 23.3 ″ E
