Baptismal font (Merseburg Cathedral)
The Romanesque font in the south aisle of the vestibule of the Merseburg Cathedral was created around 1180. It originally stood in the church of St. Thomas am Neumarkt , where the foundations of the baptismal font could be proven.
description
The font made of red sandstone has a height of 127 cm and a diameter of 131 cm. It is made from a single block of stone. A cylindrical runner rises on a round base ; it is divided by arched arcades . The top and bottom of the container is closed off by an octagonal cornice , which is profiled with round bars and a plate. In the base, four lions carry the skid and between them sit the embodiment of the Paradise Rivers: Pischon, Gihon, Hiddekel and Perat. Twelve prophets stand between the pillars of the arcades, holding tapes with their names. On their shoulders sit the twelve apostles , whose names can be seen on the arches above them. The shoulders of the apostles through prophets symbolize the salvation-historical fulfillment of the Old in the New Testament .
Half-figures peek out from the spandrels of the arches. The Leonine distich can be read around the edge of the pool : "Hos deus emunda quos istic abluit unda, fiat ut interius quod fit et exterius" (God cleanse those who were washed here by the wave, so that what happens inside, what happens outside).
We do not know who the small donor figure kneeling at the feet of the prophet Jeremiah is supposed to represent . She holds out her hands to Peter , who is depicted on the shoulders of Hosea .
literature
- Christian Forster: Font from St. Thomas am Neumarkt. In: United Cathedral Donors to Merseburg and Naumburg and the Collegiate Foundation Zeitz (ed.): The Merseburg Cathedral and its treasures. Testimony to a thousand years of history. Petersberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86568-408-0 , pp. 113-115.
