Freiburg - Muenster

The city of Freiburg was founded by the Dukes of Zaehringen in 1120. The town was located at a junction of old trade routes and already in 1200 the population had risen to 6000. This was, when under Bertold V the last duke of Zaehringen, the construction of the Freiburg Muenster cathedral began, replacing an older parish church. The blueprint of the church "Muenster Unserer Lieben Frau" was very ambitious, but Freiburg was a very prosperous place, as silver mining in the nearby Black Forrest was thriving. The building of the cathedral begun in the Romanesque style and was continued and completed 1513 for the most part as a Gothic cathedral.

The cathedral is 116 meters long, 30 meters wide and the tower (seen here only under scaffolding) is 116 meters high. This tower (completed 1330) was one the highest in Germany during medieval times. The higher towers in Ulm, Cologne, Hamburg etc. were all completed within then 19th century.

Freiburg Muenster is often been compared to Basel Muenster (60kms south), as "Basel III" is not much older. Colmar (45kms west) and Strasbourg (80kms northwest) were in a process of building large romanesque/gothic churches. Not mentioning Breisach, Rouffach, Schlettstadt...There was quite some competition.

The market is still held around the cathedral. That has not changed since the early times.