Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Zaehringer

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 portal to the Nikolaus-chapel, part of the late romanesque transept has a couple of surprising carvings. Here is Alexander the Great going up to heaven in a basket, powered by two griffins. Alexander controls the griffins by holding up two roasted puppies on sticks.

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.

St. Stephanus towers on a hill over the little town of Breisach. The steep hill, once an island in the middle of the Rhine, housed a Celtic settlement, before in 369 the Romans founded "Mons Brisiacus", a castle, maintained still in the 5th century against the hostile Alemanni. A settlement on the hill existed throughout early medieval times and the town of Breisach was founded by the Staufer in 1185. It was taken over soon after by the House of Zaehringen, followed by the Bishop of Basel, followed by the House of Habsburg, followed.... The construction of the Muenster was probably started after 1185, replacing a smaller church that was carolingian or even merovingian. What is seen today is the result of centuries of building and rebuilding. Started in late romanesque style and "completed" already 1230/1240, a gothic choir was added still within the 13th century. After 1330 the construction of the western part started. It took 200 years, to complete it. The last small towers were added in 1785. The architecturally heterogeneous church has a very rich furnishing. There is a fantastic, high gothic choir screen, a triptych, created by an unknown scholar of Hans Baldung (who himself was one of Albrecht Durer’s students), a huge (100m²) "Last Judgment"-fresco by Martin Schongauer ("Madonna im Rosenhag") and there is a shrine containing the relics of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, once brought to Breisach by Archbishop Rainald von Dassel. A legend tells, that Rainald von Dassel was on his way back to Cologne after he and his friend Barbarossa had looted Milano in 1162. The relics he left here were part of the loot. The most important and valuable loot had, were the relics of the Magis, which he brought home to Cologne, where they still are. So a lot of interesting and fantastic works of art to find inside the church - BUT - unfortunately it is not allowed to take photos inside. I accept easily the NO FLASH, what (see Freiburg) sometime leads to bad results, but NO PHOTOS is - bad! In case a member of the parish or the Tourist Office reads this - please ask the persons in charge to rethink the decision. I would come back!

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. Breastfeeding is not often seen in medieval cathedrals. To my great surprise I found it twice in Freiburg Muenster. You may remember the romanesque carving of a breastfeeding mermaid on the right arm of the transsept. Here now is a monkey mum suckling twins. Probably a single mother! Just over the little family Saint Peter´s large toes can be seen.

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 portal to the Nikolaus-chapel, part of the late romanesque transept has a couple of surprising carvings. Here are two mermaids (fish-sirens). The standing left one only has one tail, while the sitting right one has two tails. Even more unusual is, that both have human legs - and the right one is breast feeding a baby. This baby has a fish-tail as well - and holds a large bird.