The Cathedral of Our Lady in Strasbourg (French Cathédrale
Notre-Dame de Strasbourg) is a Roman Catholic church and is one of
the most important cathedrals in European architectural history and
one of the largest sandstone buildings in the world. Like the city
of Strasbourg in general, the Cathedral of Our Lady combines German
and French cultural influences.
The Minster was built from
pink Vosges sandstone between 1176 and 1439 on the site of a
previous building from the years 1015 to 1028 that had burned down
and had replaced a church from the Carolingian period that had
burned down in 1007. The new building was erected from north-east to
south-west, first in Romanesque style, then in Gothic style. From at
least 1647 to 1874, the Minster, with its 142-meter-high north
tower, was the tallest structure known to mankind and the tallest
building completed in the Middle Ages. Well-known architects who
worked on the Minster include Erwin von Steinbach and Ulrich
Ensinger. The building was damaged by bombardments in 1870 and 1944,
the figural decoration and the interior decoration were damaged in
the course of the iconoclasm of the Reformation, the
re-Catholicization in 1681 and the French Revolution. The women's
shelter (Œuvre Notre-Dame) has been officially responsible for the
construction and maintenance of the minster since 1281 at the latest
(see also the women's shelter museum).
With its
characteristic asymmetrical shape (the south tower was never built),
the Strasbourg Cathedral is still the symbol of Alsace today. It is
also visible from the German bank of the Rhine, three kilometers
away, from the Vosges and the Black Forest (even from Karlsruhe's
Turmberg). From the Trifelsblick-Hütte near Gleisweiler in southern
Palatinate, the cathedral tower can be clearly seen in good
visibility.
The astronomical clock and the "Angel Pillar" are
among the most famous pieces of equipment in the Minster. The
pulpit, the baptismal font, the swallow's nest organ, the stained
glass windows and the tapestries depicting the life of the Virgin
Mary are also excellent examples of Western art.
Numerous
important preachers and pastors of both Catholicism and various
currents of the Reformation worked at the Strasbourg Cathedral, the
center of spiritual and religious life in the city. The Minster is
the episcopal church of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg.
Previous buildings
The hill in the center of the Illinsel south of
where the Cardo (today: Rue du Dôme) and Decumanus (today: Rue des
Hallebardes) meet in the Roman garrison town of Argentoratum was
initially used as a temple to Hercules and Mars in ancient times, and
probably even earlier as a Druidic sanctuary. The first wooden Christian
sanctuary is said to have been erected on the site of the temple ruins
as early as the 4th century. Around 510 King Clovis I had a stone
building built, which was enlarged in 675 by Bishop Arbogast under the
patronage of the heir to the throne Dagobert. Around 775 the church was
expanded in the Carolingian style, but in 873 it was largely destroyed
by fire. These predecessors of today's Minster cannot be found
archaeologically, the exact location is unknown.
Romanesque and
early Gothic
In 1007, lightning struck the church, which has since
been restored. The damage was probably initially repaired, because it
was not until 1015 that Bishop Wernher initiated the construction of an
extremely large, three-aisled basilica. This was damaged by several
fires, most recently in 1176. The Wernher-Münster was renovated and
fitted with new glass windows. In the summer of 2012, during
construction work on the Schlossplatz (Place du Château) south of the
cathedral, archaeologists dug up a lime kiln of enormous dimensions (7
meters in diameter) at a depth of 3 meters, which was probably used
during the construction of the Wernher-Münster, but possibly already
dates from the 8th century.
Around 1190 a new building began in
late Romanesque style. The crypt was extended to the west and the apse,
choir and transept were created, all of which still correspond to the
floor plan of the previous building. This assumption of the foundations
of the previous building resulted in irregularities such as the central
pillar in the transept, which became necessary for a vault. It is
unclear which components, apart from the foundations, were also taken
over from Wernher's construction. Certainly only one pilaster in the
northern chapel to the side of the apse and two pilasters in the crypt
can be attributed to the Ottonian building. A dating of the entire
eastern part of the crypt to the 11th century has been widely discussed
and recently questioned.
The apse is still an unstructured
semicircle with an unstructured semi-dome, but pointed arch windows and
pointed arched screens are Gothic elements that were not used in Worms
Cathedral until its consecration in 1181.
The renovation then
covered first the north and then the south transept. Except for the
portals below and the gable edges above, almost everything on the
transept is early Gothic, not least the pointed ribbed vault inside. The
ringed tracery of the two rose windows in the southern gable of the
transept is remarkable. The struts in northern French rose windows from
that time are not yet as fine as here and on the western rose of the
nearby St. Thomas Church, which was created about ten years earlier.
Around 1245 the construction of the nave in the High Gothic style was
undertaken. The windowed triforia are a hallmark of the Rayonnant style,
based on the French Gothic phasing. The nave of the Wernherbau (and
perhaps also a late Romanesque nave that had already been built) was
demolished. In 1275 the new nave was completed. On February 2, 1276, the
builders laid the foundations and on May 25, 1277 the cornerstone of the
western front of the Strasbourg Cathedral. Erwin von Steinbach began on
behalf of Bishop Konrad III. von Lichtenberg with the construction of
the façade, followed after his death on January 17, 1318 by his son
Johannes (his other son Gerlach was meanwhile working on the
Niederhaslach Collegiate Church). The façade, originally planned with
two towers, was only executed in accordance with the original design up
to the completion of the so-called rose floor. Differences between plan
and execution can already be seen in the type of demarcation between the
entrance and rose floors, as well as in the tower windows. The tower
floors placed on top deviate even more. In 1365 the towers were built up
to the height of today's platform at 66 meters. Then, in 1383–88, Master
Michael von Freiburg connected them with a bell storey placed in
between, creating a uniformly high, transom-like façade block. The
division of the façade into nine large rectangles is reminiscent of
Notre-Dame de Paris, while Steinbach's design corresponded more to the
Amiens-oriented design of Cologne Cathedral. In 1399, under the
direction of Ulrich Ensinger, construction began on the octagonal free
floors of the northern tower, on which the Cologne architect Johannes
Hültz placed the openwork spire in 1429-1439, which brought the
Strasbourg Minster to a height of 452 Rhenish feet (142 m). There were
repeated plans for the expansion of the south tower, which were never
implemented.
The Laurentiusportal was built on the north side of
the transept between 1495 and 1505, a richly decorated late Gothic work,
built by Jakob von Landshut and equipped with life-size figures by Hans
von Aachen (1502–03).
18th to 20th centuries
In the 19th
century, master builder Gustave Klotz replaced the Romanesque crossing
tower, which had been badly damaged by Prussian artillery fire in the
Franco-Prussian War at the end of August 1870, with today's much larger
one. In 1875 the choir vault received its magnificent painting in the
neo-Byzantine style, made by Eduard von Steinle.
During the
Second World War, the Strasbourg Cathedral was badly damaged in the air
raids on Strasbourg by the United States Air Force on August 11, 1944
and September 25, 1944.
Restoration measures
North tower
At
the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the north tower
leaned noticeably to the east. This threatened the stability of the west
facade and the tower threatened to fall onto the cathedral. When the
foundations were uncovered, the foundations of the Ottonian Wernher
Minster were also excavated and it turned out that they were reused for
the new building and only widthwise - but insufficiently - had been
reinforced so that they gave way under the enormous weight of the north
tower. When Johann Knauth (1864–1924) became master builder in 1905, the
north tower was considered in acute danger of collapsing. Knauth made 3
proposals for the renovation of the foundations.
In 1910 a
competition was announced and companies were asked to help with the
renovation. The companies Th. & Ed. Wagner and Eduard Züblin (1850–1916)
& Comp, in Strasbourg, accepted. After the foundations had been
excavated down to the Rhine gravel, this gravel was first consolidated
further with injected concrete. Around the foundation of the sinking
south-eastern pillar of the north tower, an almost five meter wide and
four meter high foundation ring made of reinforced concrete was poured,
which received an additional reinforced concrete sheathing on the
outside as an abutment. In the area immediately above the foundation,
the historical pillar was surrounded by a 10 meter high ferroconcrete
mantle resting on hydraulic jacks, which absorbed the entire weight of
the pillar and transferred its load exactly evenly to the foundation
ring. This made it possible to remove the dilapidated medieval
foundation and place a stable concrete foundation underneath. After this
had hardened, the weight of the pillar could be placed on it and the
concrete mantle surrounding the pillar removed. This renovation took
years and was only completed in 1926.
Environmental pollution severely attacks the sandstone used
and makes it brittle. The building was also badly damaged by the
aftermath of the bombing in August 1944 and by the hurricane of 1999. It
has therefore had to be extensively restored in recent decades. This was
done by the French state, which owns the cathedral, and the Fondation de
l’Œuvre Notre-Dame foundation for the construction of the cathedral:
Around 1990 and 2008-2010 the crossing tower, its attachment and the
roof area of the south transept were restored,
1997-1999 the south
facade of the westwork,
1999–2009 gradual the tower from base to top,
2004-2009 the north aisle,
2004 the choir area inside,
2005-2013
followed the glass windows of the lower area of the nave and
2013 the
Katharinenkapelle on the south side. The restoration of the facade of
the southern transept has also begun.
Outline of the building
The axis of the building deviates from
an exact east orientation by 30° counterclockwise. While parts of
the medieval enclosure were removed from several other cathedrals in
the course of modern times, the monastery building to the east of
the Strasbourg Cathedral was replaced in the 18th century by the
Grand séminaire east of the chancel.
Since the chancel and
crossing, stylistically the most ancient parts of this church
building anyway, stand on even older foundations, the chancel
consists architecturally only of the apse. Round on the inside, it
is rectangular on the outside. The subsequent rectangular
reconstruction, like the flanking rectangular chapels, served to
architecturally integrate the eastern part of the cathedral into the
canons' monastery. At first glance, the entire east section appears
to be heavy in Romanesque style, but is rich in Gothic details,
including several delicate pinnacles, the (younger) narthex of the
north portal and the southern rose window already mentioned. The
northern rose windows, on the other hand, are as robust as the early
Gothic lateral oculuses on the choir loft of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Overall, the glass surfaces of the eastern part are smaller than
those of the High Gothic nave, so that they belong to the darker
parts of the church interior.
The central nave is above
average in width but not above average in height. The girder arches
of its vaults are not as delicate as its ribs. Reference has already
been made to the windows of the triforium galleries. The rood screen
was removed in the 17th century, as was the canopy-topped high altar
that was subsequently erected. Fragments of the rood screen are now
kept in the Women's Refuge Museum and The Cloisters; Apostle busts
made of dark-painted linden wood from the former baroque high altar
were placed along the choir wall in 2006.
The facade drawings
of the various planning stages of the west facade are also kept in
the Frauenhausmuseum. They are among the oldest architectural
designs in the German-speaking world. The west facade, begun in
1277, shows a three-portal structure, the portals with wide walls
and high lashings decorated with pinnacles, reaching the middle
portal to the middle floor, where the large rose window is
connected. In front of the masonry of the west facade, a
free-standing scaffolding of thin rods and arches decorated with
tracery was placed, which, as already mentioned, is called "harp
tracery" because of its similarity to harp strings and which plays a
major role in the unusual effect of the facade.
In contrast
to most cathedrals, the Strasbourg Cathedral has only a small number
of chapels: north of the nave the Laurentius chapel (15th century),
south the Catherine chapel (14th century), east of the north
transept the John the Baptist chapel (13th century), east of the
southern transept the Andreas chapel (12th century). The nearby
sacristy was added in 1744 by the city architect Joseph Massol.
The minster has a total of five rosettes: two small ones each on
the outer wall of the transepts and a large one above the main
portal of the west facade. The west rosette is one of the largest of
its kind, but unlike the transept rosettes of Notre-Dame de Paris,
the glass surfaces are not continued outside their outer ring.
Between her and the row of windows below is a dark wall.
The interior and exterior dimensions of the minster are as follows:
Total external length: 112 meters
Total interior length: 103 meters
Interior height of the nave: 32 meters
Interior width of the nave: 16
meters
Interior height of the aisles: 19 meters
Width of the west
facade: 51.5 meters
Height of the west facade: 66 meters
Diameter
of the facade rosette: 13.6 meters
Height of the crossing tower: 58
meters
Height of the north tower: 142 meters
Urban integration
The Münsterplatz is one of the most beautiful European city squares.
Dominated by the west facade of the Minster, there are numerous
half-timbered houses in the style of Alemannic-South German
architecture, some of which have four to five floors. The steep roofs
with up to four attics are characteristic. On the north side of the
Münsterplatz is the well-known, richly decorated Kammerzellhaus.
The sculptures from the 13th century are among the historically most
significant, high quality and most impressive works of art from what was
then German territory. The focal points are the south transept and the
west portals. In addition, the late Gothic portal of the northern
transept is worth noting. With regard to the entire furnishing of the
Minster with architectural sculpture, it should be noted that many
removed or destroyed sculptures were partly replaced by exact copies,
but mostly by free reproductions in the 19th century.
South
transept portal
Around 1225-1230, a sculptor's workshop came to
Strasbourg to equip the existing, still Romanesque double portal and its
two tympanum fields with reliefs and figures in the robes. The statues
of the apostles in the robes were destroyed in the French Revolution,
the central figure of Solomon and the lintels with reliefs of the
carrying of the grave and the Assumption of the Virgin suffered the same
fate, but were replaced by free reproductions in the 19th century. The
originals of the statues of Ecclesia and Synagogue have been replaced by
copies on the portal, the originals are in the women's shelter museum.
The tympana still show the original condition with the Death of the
Virgin and the Coronation of the Virgin. The Madonna under the clock is
a free invention of the 19th century.
World Judgment Pillar
The same workshop created the ensemble of figures depicting the Last
Judgment around the high central column of the hall of the southern
transept, often inaccurately called the pillar of angels. Art history
knows of no parallel examples of such an idiosyncratic arrangement of a
Last Judgment inside the church. 12 figures are arranged in three levels
around the octagonal pillar with four services. At the bottom are the
four evangelists with their symbolic animals. Four angels with trumpets
follow in the middle tier. Above Christ as the enthroned judge of the
world, accompanied by angels who hold (or held) his instruments of
suffering.
The sculpture workshop of the south transept
The
sculptures in the south transept were made almost simultaneously in a
smelter workshop whose stonemasons had probably worked in Sens and
Chartres (north porch of the cathedral). With her, Gothic sculpture,
which originated in the heart of France, reached Alsace. The
pathos-filled expression and the mobility of the figures wrapped in
finely flowing fabrics is, however, entirely independent and cannot be
explained solely by French models. The inventiveness and the subtle
manner of execution probably go back to the formative power of a leading
master, an artistically outstanding personality. There are related works
in France, but none that can be attributed with certainty to the hands
at work in Strasbourg.
The sculptures on the portals of the west
facade
The sculptures on the portals of the west facade were created
between 1277 and 1298, but are partly copies of the originals taken to
the women's shelter or free additions from the 19th century. The central
portal is dedicated to the history of salvation presented in biblical
images. There are 14 figures of prophets on the robes. The partially
renewed tympanum depicts the passion of Christ in four zones, from the
entry into Jerusalem on the bottom left to the ascension of Christ at
the top, framed by archivolts with 70 biblical and other scenes (19th
century). The Madonna on the Trumeau is also such a neo-Gothic
substitute.
In the center of the left, northern west portal is
the childhood story of Jesus (19th century). The robed figures represent
the virtues triumphing over vice (copies). On the right, southern portal
of the western facade, the ten wise and foolish virgins, led by Christ
on the right and on the left by the "Prince of the World", a worldly
seducer whose back is covered by disgusting creatures, occupy the robe.
They are by the most important sculptor on the western portals, whose
style reveals that he had previously worked on the Saint Stephen portal
of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. In the base fields of these
statues, depictions of the month and motifs of the zodiac are framed by
quatrefoils. The tympanum with the Last Judgment and the archivolts are
again works from the 19th century.
Twice a year, at about the time of the equinox, a "green ray" is
observed in the noonday sunlight passing through a green segment (foot
of Judah the patriarch) in a stained-glass window of the southern
triforium, producing a spot of light on the floor. Moving on with the
course of the sun, the spot of light, after a curved path, reaches the
canopy above the Crucifixion on the late Gothic pulpit in the nave.
Contrary to popular belief, this is not a medieval astrological
symbol, but a modern, purely accidental phenomenon. The piece of green
glass at the foot of King Judah, through which the ray of light falls,
does not come from the Middle Ages, but like all glass windows in the
southern triforium, from the completely new glazing of this section in
the years 1872 to 1878. The ray of light falling through this piece of
glass was only around a hundred Observed years after the new glazing,
namely around 1972. The explanation lies in the fact that it was only at
this time that the glass had become so transparent that - unlike the
other, darker glass panes - a ray of sunshine could penetrate through
this pane. The cause was either weather-related loss of paint on the
piece of glass or an undocumented repair of the window with greenish
clear glass. Exact timing also proves that the beam of light does not
reach the point above the head of the crucified Christ until one or two
days after the spring and autumn equinoxes. The purely coincidental
occurrence of the phenomenon would therefore be proven, but the symbolic
interpretation has spread among many visitors to the Minster.
A
study by Oliver Wießmann published in May 2018, which deals in detail
with the green ray in the intellectual history spectrum of the
Strasbourg Cathedral, comes to the conclusion on 355 pages that the
green ray of light represents a deliberate staging. When reconstructing
the windows of the south triforium in 1872, master builder Gustave Klotz
used old plans from the master builder's archive, which is now lost.
Already in the historical outline of the pulpit from 1484, the arc of a
circle was laid out, which the green beam describes over the pulpit
figures. That is why the outline appears strangely compressed to today's
viewer. The ray itself is to be understood as a heavenly ladder on which
King Judah stands. Another ray of light also illuminates the canopy over
the figure of Christ at the time of the winter solstice.
The facilities include:
Stained glass windows, mainly 14th
century, some late 12th century (north transept) and 13th century
('Emperor's window' in the north aisle), some 20th century (south
transept, chancel). Window from the former Dominican church in the
Laurentius chapel and in the Andreas chapel.
Tomb of Konrad von
Lichtenberg in the chapel of St. John the Baptist, around 1300.
Opposite: monument to a canon by Niclas Gerhaert van Leyden, 1464.
Richly decorated baptismal font by Jodok Dotzinger in the north
transept, 1453
Ornate pulpit by Hans Hammer northeast of the nave,
1486
Group of sculptures "Christ on the Mount of Olives" in the north
transept opposite the baptismal font (previously in St. Thomas Church),
1498
Apostle busts from the former high altar along the chancel wall,
wood, 17th century
Tapestry "Life of the Virgin", Paris, 17th
century, acquired by the cathedral chapter in the 18th century
Altars
in the chapels (15th to 19th centuries, large baroque altar from 1698,
painted in 1776, in the Laurentius chapel)
Tomb of Eucharius Dorsch
in the cloister with a group scene similar to a dance of death, ca.
1480, both destroyed in 1715
Noteworthy is the astronomical clock in the south transept. Its
predecessor, the so-called "Epiphany Clock", was completed in 1353 and
stood on the western wall opposite the current clock. It already had a
calendar, displays for the stars and the three wise men as moving
figures, who bowed their heads to the Virgin Mary at every hour to a
chime. Only the movable figure of a rooster flapping its wings has
survived from this clock. In the west wall of the transept, old
supporting stones indicate the location of the clock.
In 1567 the
city magistrate decided to build a new clock. The three mathematicians
Michael Herr, Christian Herrlin and Nikolaus Prugner were commissioned
with the construction, but their design was not implemented. Only Conrad
Dasypodius, also a professor of mathematics and a student of Herrlin,
created the final plan, which was carried out by the brothers Josias and
Isaak Habrecht. The clock, which already had astronomical displays, a
calendar and a planetarium, was completed in 1574 and ran until 1789.
The clock case and some of the paintings that have survived to this day
come from this clock.
In 1836, after the mechanism had been idle
for almost 50 years, Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué was commissioned by the
city council to carry out the renovation. Work on the clock began on
June 24, 1838 and lasted until 1842. Schwilgué designed a completely new
clockwork whose functions are unique in the world. The clock shows the
orbit of the earth, the moon and the orbits of the planets Mercury to
Saturn. Most amazing is the clockwork that runs on New Year's Eve and
calculates the base date for the movable holidays. The part of the clock
that replicates the precession of the earth's axis – one revolution in
25,800 years – probably holds the record for slowly rotating gears. But
it is also the only clock in the world that strikes 1 p.m.
A
replica of the clock is in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
There are three organs in the Strasbourg Cathedral.
Main organ
The nave organ on the north side of the second nave bay is a swallow's
nest organ and has the function of the main organ. It is located in a
Gothic organ case by Friedrich Krebs (1491), the pendentive dates from
1385. The case originally contained a work with 2,602 pipes created by
Andreas Silbermann in 1716. The instrument, which had hardly been
modified until then, was radically rebuilt in the Romantic style by
organ builder Heinrich Koulen in 1897 and connected to the choir organ
by an electropneumatic action. This conversion was not convincing, so a
new work by E. A. Roethinger was created in 1935. The action action of
this already slightly neoclassical organ was now mechanical with Barker
machines for Récit, Grand Orgue and Pédale, but the Rückpositiv remained
pneumatic. In 1981, Alfred Kern built the fully mechanical organ that
now exists, using almost all of the existing pipes. The actions are
hanging.
Choir organ
In the choir, on the north side, is the
choir organ, made in 1878 by Joseph Merklin. Since then, the instrument
has been extensively rebuilt several times, so that little of the
original sound substance remains. Since the last modifications by Daniel
Kern in 1989, it has 24 registers on three manuals and pedal with
mechanical actions.
Before the French Revolution, 13 church bells hung in the cathedral.
The city and clock bells hung in the tower, the church bells in the
middle section of the façade. Six bells were preserved at that time,
including the large Heiliggeist or death bell cast in 1427 (also called
le bourdon or le grand bourdon). It is a work by Master Hans Gremp and
weighs around 8,500 kilograms. Her inscription reads:
"Anno D[omi]ni
MCCCCXXVII mense julii fusa sum per magistrum Joannem de Argentina -
nuncio festa, metum, nova quædam, flebile læthum."
("In the year of
the Lord 1427 in the month of July I was cast by Master Johann from
Strasburg. I announce feast days, fear, some news, a lamentable death.")
What has remained is the so-called ten bell (also called cloche de
dix-heures or cloche du couvre-feu), which was cast in 1786 by the bell
founder Matthieu Edel from Strasbourg. The names of this bell derive
from its historical functions; Contrary to reports to the contrary, the
bell was not used to announce the closing of the city gates or to ask
the Jews to leave the city. The ten bell rings every evening from 10
p.m.; it is not part of the main bell.
The four rigidly suspended
chime bells have also been preserved, of which the two smaller ones
alternately indicate the quarter hours and the two larger ones indicate
the number of hours on the full hour.
In the years 1975 and 1977,
seven bells were cast in the Heidelberg bell foundry and supplemented
the Gremp'sche bell. Since then, the Strasbourg Cathedral bell has been
one of the most beautiful bells in Europe. From 1978 onwards, many
experts, including the then Cologne bell expert Jakob Schaeben, spoke of
a "sound miracle". The ringing was designed by the bell experts Abbé
Jean Ringue and Hans Rolli. Three more bells were added in 1987, 1993
and 2004; the apostle bell from 1977 had to be recast in 2006. In 2014,
four more bells were added for the crossing tower.
The sixteen
chimes now form the largest chime in France and, together with the four
clock bells, one of the heaviest bell ensembles in the country.
The table below lists all the bells, sorted according to the numbering
of the ringing order.
Protestant iconoclasm
In the late Middle Ages, the city of
Strasbourg succeeded in freeing itself from the rule of the bishop and
becoming a free imperial city. The late 15th century was shaped by the
sermons of Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg and the emerging Reformation.
In 1524 the city council assigned the Minster to the Protestant faith,
and the building suffered some iconoclastic damage. In 1539, the world's
first documented Christmas tree was erected in Münster.
French
reunion policy
After the occupation of the city as part of Louis
XIV's reunion policy on September 30, 1681, the minster was returned to
the Catholics, the interior of the church was redesigned according to
the Catholic liturgy and the rood screen, which had been built in 1252,
was demolished in 1682 in order to extend the choir towards the nave. A
mass was held in the Minster in the presence of Prince Bishop Franz Egon
von Fürstenberg and Louis XIV.
French Revolution
As part of
the French Revolution, numerous portal and facade statues of the Minster
were damaged or destroyed and have since been replaced by copies. At the
end of April 1794, Enragés from Eulogius Schneider's circle suggested
tearing down the north tower as a symbol of clerical arrogance and
violation of the principle of equality (Égalité). The citizens of
Strasbourg opposed this by crowning the north tower with a huge Phrygian
cap made of painted tin in mid-May. This was later kept in the municipal
museum and destroyed in September 1870 during the siege of Strasbourg by
Prussian artillery fire.
Second World War
In the course of the
Second World War, the Minster acquired a symbolic character for both
parties. Adolf Hitler, who visited it on June 28, 1940, wanted to turn
the sacred building into a "national shrine of the German people". On
March 2, 1941, Major General Leclerc and the soldiers of his division in
Kufra (in Libya) swore to "lay down their arms only when our fair colors
again waved on the Strasbourg Cathedral" ("Le serment de Koufra", The
Oath of koufra). They fulfilled this oath on November 23, 1944. On
August 11, 1944, the building suffered damage when it was hit by British
and American aerial bombs, which were not finally repaired until 1990.
In 1956, the Council of Europe donated the famous choir window by Max
Ingrand, which " Strasbourg Madonna".
Formation of the
Archdiocese of Strasbourg
During a ceremonial visit in October 1988,
Pope John Paul II raised the diocese of Strasbourg to the status of an
archdiocese.
Islamist assassination plan
In 2000, a group of
Algerian Islamists who had planned to attack the Christmas market in
front of the cathedral were arrested in Frankfurt am Main.
Musical appreciation
The American composer Spencer Topel wrote an
almost half-hour work for chamber orchestra, Details on the Strasbourg
Rosace, in 2014, which has since been performed several times.
Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg – preacher (Catholic)
Johann Jakob
Scheffmacher – preacher (Catholic)
Matthäus Zell – Preacher
(Lutheran)
Kaspar Hedio – Preacher (Lutheran)
Johann Conrad
Dannhauer – pastor (Lutheran)
Philipp Jacob Spener – Preacher
(Lutheran)
Truchsess Gebhard von Waldburg, former Archbishop of
Cologne, Protestant cathedral dean
Franz Xaver Richter –
Kapellmeister (Catholic)
Ignaz Josef Pleyel – Kapellmeister
(Catholic)
Among others, Victor Hugo and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was inspired by the visit to the Minster to write his work "Von deutscher Baukunst" (1772), expressed their admiration for the upward striving élan of his architecture.
The tower platform at a height of 66 m can be accessed via a spiral
stone in the southern tower foundation; the exit is in the north tower
foundation. Voltaire and the young Goethe had also undertaken this
ascent and carved their names in the right-hand corner above the
entrance to the clock tower and on the south-eastern corner turret of
the north tower. With good visibility, the view extends to the Black
Forest and the mountains near Baden-Baden to the Blauen in the east, to
the Vosges and the Odilienberg in the west and north and to the
Kaiserstuhl rising up from the plain in the south and, in the distance,
the Law.
In earlier times, at least until 1942, the north tower
could even be climbed to below the top of the tower via one of the four
corner towers. You first got as far as the walkway between the corner
towers (106 m), which remained accessible for many years after the
Second World War, and then to the lantern below the top of the tower.
"July 20 [1824]. Now we climbed the tower to the platform, where
there is an incomparable view of Alsace, the Black Forest and the
Vosges, and where one can see quite closely the finished tower, a marvel
of bold and beautiful execution. Kerll found everything so beyond his
expectations and, without the rest of us thinking about it, attacked
Hirt's statement that all this was barbarism, so terribly that it was a
pleasure. Through the 100+ foot spiral staircases in the whole breached
towers we went up to the top, Kerll fortunately overcame a fit of
vertigo and did it all as well as we did, Big Brandt climbed even higher
in the little octagons, which form the top, but the stairs became too
narrow to let his body through. Above all, I was amazed again by the
construction of the peak, whose sloping stone masses seem to have almost
no abutment. The sight inside these masses of stones uniting in a point
is most surprising. Where this tip begins, the tower is vaulted again.
On the ridges of this artificial vault lie horizontally large stone
slabs, on which one walks under the top and has a very nice view of the
upper structure. Even the most beautiful free-standing columns and
ornaments give the character of complete trust in its solidity through
the solidity of the stone. How different is it at Cologne Cathedral,
where danger threatens everywhere and you never feel safe anywhere. When
we had descended to the platform, which is already 300 feet high above
the city, we fortified ourselves with beer, which is served up here.
This magnificent raised stone square is not just dedicated to
ecclesiastical purposes at all, it is a place of general amusement.
Stone tables and stone benches are built into the beautiful balconies
for merry feasts. There are evening parties with dancing and other
amusements up here, and if you enjoy the old Erwin von Steinbach, the
work becomes a true monument.”
– Karl Friedrich Schinkel, June
30, 1824, Two Gothic cathedrals in Strasbourg and Freiburg
As part of the Spectacle Son et Lumière (German: "Sound and Light Show"), the facade is illuminated in July and August in the evening darkness with a wide variety of colors, with spotlights of different light intensities from changing angles, point-like or wave-like, flat. As a result, structures emerge from the overall work that are otherwise hardly noticeable. Columns, skeletons, round or pointed arches are individually visible and can be recognized in their connection with each other.
On December 4, 1577, Truchsess Gebhard von Waldburg was elected Archbishop of Cologne. A legend reports that the pretty Mansfeld woman's eyes enchanted and seduced the cleric. The Italian Scotti made a mirror with a picture of the pretty Mansfeld woman on the back and a cover. He had himself recommended to the elector as a traveling scholar who understands the black art. Unknowingly, the priest accepted the suggestion of the magic mirror. As the hour progressed, everyone could only see their own likeness on the big table. As he bowed to the elector, he quickly and unnoticed turned the cover. Now he could show his beloved to everyone at the electoral court. With a smile, Gebhard accepted the applause for his now well-known love affair. The pretty woman confessed to the teachings of Martin Luther. He quickly forgot about celibacy and met his beloved in a secluded castle. In 1582 the Archbishop of Cologne also committed to the Reformation and married Agnes von Mansfeld. According to Lutheran teaching, all nuns and priests are allowed to marry because God's order of creation provided for marriage. Gebhard moved to Strasbourg and became a Protestant cathedral dean at the court of Duke Friedrich von Württemberg. Since then, all evangelical members of regulars' tables can claim, thanks to Gebhard, to be part of the apostolic succession like the catholics. On November 5, 1632, Colonel Hans Michael Rau occupied Kallenberg from Meßstetten in order to enforce the controversial will of the former archbishop by military means. According to Wirtenberg's legal opinion, the rule of Kallenberg was inherited by the Wirtenberg duke in a valid will.