Statue of St. Christophorus in Cologne Cathedral

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Statue of Saint Christopher in Cologne Cathedral

The statue of St. Christopher in Cologne Cathedral is a monumental sculpture made of tuff stone . It was created around 1470 and is attributed to the workshop of the master Tilman . It is set up on a column at the transition from the southern transept to the ambulatory of the chapel wreath.

description

The statue is 3.73 m high. It consists of three stone blocks and depicts Saint Christopher carrying the baby Jesus on his shoulders. The statue stands on a console with a polygonal base plate, which is supported by two heraldic angels.

Christophorus, who according to legend has to carry the burden of the whole world with the child, wades through stylized waves at his feet with his robe gathered up. His legs are free up to the knees. With his left hand he leans on a roughly carved stick as high as a man. His right arm is braced to the right behind. His features are strained, he has a wavy beard and a headband knotted on the right.

The baby Jesus is sitting on his shoulder, holding a globe on his knee with his right hand and resting on the head of Christophorus with his left hand.

history

The statue comes from the famous workshop of the master Tilman , who created other sculptures in and around Cologne. Master Tilman was identified in literature as the stonemason Tilman van der Burch until the 1970s , but is now mostly identified as Tilman Heysacker .

According to older sources, the statue of Christophorus was once painted in polychrome , with a “gold-flowered skirt”, but was then painted over several times. It was extracted in the 19th century and given a thin colored frame .

Christophorus figures from medieval times were usually placed at the entrance of churches or gates. This also applies to this statue, because the pilgrimage through the unfinished Cologne Cathedral, which was closed with a partition wall to the nave, began at the south portal and led the believers through the ambulatory to the Shrine of the Three Kings , then out again to the north portal. The statue was the first saint sculpture in the cathedral that a pilgrim encountered when entering. Even today, on certain occasions, such as the cathedral pilgrimage , the pilgrims' path leads through the normally closed south portal into the cathedral.

reception

Heinrich Heine mentions the statue in his poem "The Old, Evil Songs" in the Lyrical Intermezzo , which appeared in the Book of Songs in 1827 :

[...]
And get me twelve grand,
They must be even stronger than
like the holy Christoph
in the cathedral in Cologne on the Rhine.
[...]

literature

  • Hans Peter Hilger : The Master of St. Christophorus in Cologne Cathedral. In: Kölner Domblatt . Yearbook of the Central Cathedral Building Association. 27th episode, 1967.

Web links

Commons : Statue of St. Christophorus in Cologne Cathedral  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Birgit Lambert: Tilman van der Burch, St. Christophorus on koelner-dom.de.
  2. ↑ Hans Peter Hilger : The Master of St. Christophorus in Cologne Cathedral. In: Kölner Domblatt. Yearbook of the Central Cathedral Building Association. 27th episode, 1967.
  3. ^ Gunter Fabian: Crucifix by Tilman. New finds on the work and the person of a Cologne carver. In: Kölner Domblatt. Yearbook of the Central Cathedral Building Association. 42nd series, 1977 pp. 267-276.
  4. ↑ Miriam Szőcs: Christ on the cross with Mary and John the Evangelist (former crucifixion group). In: Dagmar Täube , Miriam Verena Fleck (Hrsg.): Splendor and size of the Middle Ages. Cologne masterpieces from the great collections of the world. ISBN 978-3-7774-4531-1 , pp. 370-372.
  5. ↑ Henri LM Defoer: Middeleeuwse beelden op huis Bergh. (PDF; 740 kB), p. 4 and footnote ix p. 11 (“Meester Tilman is waarschijnlijk identiek met 'Tilman Heysacker gnant Krayendunck', the sea paints in de Keulse archieven wordt genoemd. In other documents it is used as' Tilman bildensnider ',' bijldensnijder 'of' bildensnijder 'aangeduid ”).
  6. ^ Paul Clemen : The Cologne Cathedral. In: The art monuments of the Rhine province . Sixth volume, III. Department: The art monuments of the city of Cologne. First volume, III. Department: The Cathedral. Verlag von L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937, p. 247.

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '28.4 "  N , 6 ° 57' 29.6"  E