St. Nikolaus (Freiburg im Üechtland)

St. Nicholas Cathedral

Saint Nicolas Cathedral

Basic data

Place:

Freiburg

Canton:

Freiburg

Country:

Switzerland

Altitude :

587 m

Coordinates: 46 ° 48 '22.3 " N , 7 ° 9' 46" E ; CH1903: 578 944 / 183930

Use:

Roman Catholic Church

Accessibility:

Observation tower open to the public

Tower data

Construction time :

1283-1490

Building material :

stone

Total height :

76.00 m

Viewing platform:

64.00 m

Position map

St. Nicholas Cathedral

Cathedral in the city ensemble

View through the church

View into the vault

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas ( French : Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas ) is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Friborg in Friborg in Switzerland. It bears the patronage of St. Nicholas and was formerly the collegiate church of a canon until 1924 . The original Freiburg cathedral was elevated to the status of cathedral of the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Freiburg in 1924.

Building history

The cathedral was built in several stages from 1283 until 1490 on the site of a Romanesque church. The three-nave Gothic church has a 74 meter high tower, the construction of which was completed in 1490 in the style of the late Flamboyant Gothic and in which there is a spiral staircase with 368 steps.

Building

The main portal opens on the mighty western front, the tympanum of which shows a depiction of the Last Judgment from the 14th century. The polygonal choir was renewed and enlarged between 1627 and 1630, whereby the Gothic style was retained despite the advanced period.

Freiburg Cathedral as seen from the Lorette
Viewing platform

Portals

The main entrance (west portal)

West portal
Detail: west portal
Groups of figures of the west portal

South portal

The south portal was originally the main entrance to the cathedral. The poor condition, which was caused by decades of car traffic, prompted the city to close the gate in the 1970s and to cover it with wood to protect it. After 40 years, the gate has now been restored and made public. Since it was partly no longer known what certain bases of the statues originally looked like, one statue was provided with a base that takes our modern era as its theme. You can see people who are busy with their smartphones.

Furnishing

Holy Sepulcher Chapel

The rich furnishings of the church include the Holy Grave Chapel with the depiction of the Entombment of Christ (1433), a baptismal font from 1498, the choir stalls in Gothic flamboyant style (1516), various Baroque altars and the high altar from 1877. The one made by Ulrich Wagner between 1464 and 1466 Choir grilles in the late Gothic style are considered the “most beautiful of its era”.

Baptismal font
pulpit
Altarpiece
Representation of the cross in the choir room

window

The church windows were initially designed in Art Nouveau style by the Polish painter Józef Mehoffer and created between 1896 and 1936. The work was completed by the French painter Alfred Manessier .

Organs

Main organ by Aloys Mooser

The cathedral has two organs . The large organ was built between 1824 and 1834 by the Freiburg organ builder Aloys Mooser (1770–1839) and attracted musicians like Franz Liszt and Anton Bruckner . The instrument has 60 registers on four manuals and a pedal .

I Grand Orgue C – f ³
Montre	16 ′
Bourdon	16 ′
Principal	8th'
Octave	8th'
Bourdon	8th'
Viol	8th'
Prestant	4 ′
Dulciane	4 ′
Duplicate	2 ′
Fittings	2 ′
Cymbals	2 ′
Sharp	1'
Grand Cornet	16 ′
Petit Cornet	8th'
Trombones	8th'
Clairon	4 ′

II Grand Positif C – f ³
Quintadène	16 ′
Second principal	8th'
Flûte douce	8th'
Viol	8th'
Octave	4 ′
Flute	4 ′
Flûte à cheminée	4 ′
Nazard	3 ′
Duplicate	2 ′
Flageolet	1'
Fittings	2 ′
Cornet	8th'
Trumpets	8th'

III Petit Positif C – f ³
Montre	8th'
Bourdon	8th'
Viole	8th'
Salicional	8th'
Prestant	4 ′
Calcane	4 ′
Flûte bouchée	4 ′
Flute of fifths	4 ′
Dulciane	4 ′
Flageolet	2 ′
Cornet	8th'
Cromorne	8th'

IV echo C – f ³
Montre	8th'
Bourdon	8th'
Salicional	8th'
Flute	4 ′
Flute of fifths	4 ′
Flageolet	2 ′
Cornet	8th'
Voix humaine	8th'

Pedale C – f ¹
Grand Pedale
Bas-Bourdon	32 ′
Sous-Basse	16 ′
Octave	8th'
Prestant	4 ′
Bombard	16 ′
Trombones	8th'


Petite Pédale
Montre	16 ′
Principal	8th'
Flute	8th'
Prestant	4 ′
Trumpets	8th'

Choir organ by Sebald Manderscheidt

The choir organ was built by Sebald Manderscheidt (1620–1685), a son of the German organ builder Nicolaus Manderscheidt , between 1655 and 1657. The instrument with 18 registers on two manuals and pedal is not freely accessible.

I Grand Orgue C – c ³
Principal	8th'
Second and Principal	8th'
Fiffera	8th'
Coppel	8th'
Octava	4 ′
Floods in Octava	4 ′
Fleuten in Quint	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
Great Octava	2 ′
Quint	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
Mixture III	1'

II positive C – c ³
Copula	8th'
Principal	4 ′
Floods	4 ′
Octave	2 ′
Zimbel II	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
shelf	8th'
Tremblant

Pédale CDEFG – a
Sub bassus	16 ′
Trumpets	8th'

Bells

Tower of Freiburg Cathedral

The ringing consists of 13 bells . With the bells of the St. Gallen collegiate church and the Bern Minster (both on e ⁰ ) it is one of the most important historical large bells in Switzerland.

Every evening at 10:15 p.m. the Barbara's bell sounds to ring the armies or stray people. To the Betzeiten to 7, 12 and 19 o'clock rings the hour bell ; The primary bell has been used for weekday masses since the 17th century . The large Sion or Mary bell rings after funeral ceremonies. Since 1953 the bells have been equipped with an electric bell drive; The bells 13 + 12 were also equipped with an electric bell drive during the restoration in 2009, before they could still be rung by hand. The two choralist bells are no longer used today, but could still be rung by hand. They are connected to each other with a rope so that both bells could be rung at the same time with one train. The ringing order from the Middle Ages has changed fundamentally; the Gambach bell and the small death bell (only in the 1990s) were integrated into the main bell and the regular use of the full bell and larger partial chimes returned: every Saturday at 7 p.m. instead of the evening bell, the Sunday with the full bell (bells 9–1) ushered in; this will also be heard at high mass from 9.45 a.m. At 9:00 am and 11:30 am, the ringing is reduced to bells 7-2, and again to bells 6-3 for the evening before and Sunday evening mass. Bells 9–4 sound for baptisms, bells 9–3 for weddings and finally bells 9–2 before funerals.

No.	Surname	Casting year	Caster	Ø (mm)	Mass (kg)	Nominal ( HT -¹ /₁₆ )	Belfry	Chime
1	Sion or Mary bell	1505	Robert de Besançon & Pierre de Montureux	2207	6950	g ⁰ −5	below, central	after funeral services
2	Catherine Bell	1505	Robert de Besançon & Pierre de Montureux	1746	3550	ces ¹ −2	below, south
3	Barbara's Bell	1367	Walter Reber	1461	2080	it ¹ +1	Middle, central	10:15 pm
4th	Hour or brotherhood bell	1416	Anton Grangier	1300	1650	f ¹ −1	Middle, north	7 a.m., 12 p.m. and 7 p.m.
5	Primary bell	1437	Peter Follare	1106	980	as ¹ ± 0	Middle, north	for weekday masses
6th	Gambach bell	1562	Hans Burdi	957	600	b ¹ +8	Middle, central
7th	1. Sacristan bell	1569	Jakob Kegler	680	210	it ² +13	Middle, southwest
8th	2. Sacristan bell	14th century	unknown	647	230	ges ² +6	Middle, southeast
9	Death knell	1734	Jakob Klely	564	110	tot ² ± 0	Spire
10	1. Choralist bell	1567	Jakob Kegler	291	20th	?	Middle, north
11	2. Choralist bell	1554	Jakob Burdi	289	18th	at g ³	Middle, north
12	Measuring bell	1737	Joseph Klely	415	50	ces ³ +3	Roof turret
13	Sacrament bell	1656	Franz-Bartholomäus Reyff	316	23	f ³	Roof turret

Patronage party

→ see main article St. Nicholas Festival

At the patronage festival of the cathedral and the city of Freiburg every year on the first Saturday of December, a student of the St. Michael college dressed as St. Nicholas moves with a donkey at the head of a parade through the old town and then stops from a platform above the portal of the cathedral a speech with satirical allusions to the events of the past year in the college and the city.

literature

Peter Kurmann (Ed.): The St. Nicholas Cathedral in Freiburg. Burning mirror of the European Gothic. Bibliothèque des Arts, Lausanne 2007, ISBN 978-2-88453-135-1 .
Hortensia by Roda: The stained glass by Józef Mehoffer in the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Freiburg. Published by the Society for Swiss Art History, Benteli, Bern 1995, ISBN 3-7165-0969-8 .
Jean Steinauer: The Republic of Canons - A History of Power in Freiburg i. Ue. (Original title: La république des chanoines , translated by Hubertus von Gemmingen). hier + now, Publishing House for Culture and History , Baden (Switzerland) 2012, ISBN 978-3-03919-269-4 .