Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: organistrum

Muenster, the cultural centre of Westphalia, is a city with a population of more than 250.000 of which nearly 50.000 are students at the University of Muenster. This surely helped Muenster to gain the status of the "bicycle capital of Germany". Charlemagne sent out St. Ludger in 792 to evangelise the area, so Ludger built a school here. When the Diocese of Muenster was founded in 805, Ludger the first bishop here. He had the first church built at this place, named "Ludgerus-Dom", that existed upto 1377, when it got demolished and replaced by a gothic cloister. Next to the "Ludgerus Dome" a new church was built, when Dodo was bishop in Muenster 967-993. This one got the name "Ottonischer Dom". Bishop Hermann of Katzenelnbogen added a westwork to this building in 1192, that got integrated into the third chathedral built here 1225 - 1264. This cathedral still exists, though it was a ruin after WWII and the old westwork never got rebuilt. The cathedral is a mixture of late romanesque and early gothic style. As I have uploaded fotos taken here before, I just add some details. The cathedral (aka "Sankt Pauls Dom") has a nartex with some extraprdenary carvings. A frieze runs all along the walls, depicting comlex hunting scenes, hard working peasants, craftsmen - and musicians. Here is a musician playing the hurdy-gurdy / organistrum.

The construction of the cathedral was ordered by King Ferdinand III of Castile and Mauricio, the Bishop of Burgos. Ferdinand had just married Barbarossa´s granddaughter Beatrice of Swabia (aka "Elisabeth of Swabia") and wanted a cathedral, reflecting his new role in the European power game. The former Romanesque cathedral got demolished and on July 20, 1221, the construction of the new Gothic started under the guidance of an unknown French architect. After nine years, the chevet was completed and the high altar was consecrated. Then the construction stopped for about 200 years. Attending the Council of Basel (aka "Council of Florence") in 1435 bishop (and diplomat) Alfonso de Cartagena saw the just completed, elegant towers of the Basel Minster. When he returned to Burgos he was accompanied by German architect Johannes von Köln (aka "Juan de Colonia"), who probably knew the blueprints of the towers, planned for the Cathedral of Cologne. Under his guidance the towers of the Cathedral were completed in open tracery. He was followed on the construction site by his son Simon de Colonia. The "Puerta del Sarmental" This portal is the south transept portal, named after an important family in Burgos. It is about a decade older than the "Portada de la Coroneria". Here is the tympanum of the portal. In the center Christ, seated on a throne, holding the Bible. Around Christ are the symbols of the Evangelists, they can actually be seen sitting on writing desks and working. Below are the 12 Apostles, all holding a bible. Angels (holding candles?) populate the inner archivolt, musicians the outer ones. The (24) Elders of the Apocalypse? Here are 29 crowned musicians. They play a variety of interesting instruments. The very left musician of the middle archivolt plays an organistrum. The seventh musician (from left) on the outer archivolt plays a small portative organ. A child operates the bellows.

The chapter house of the former "Abbaye Saint-Georges de Boscherville", founded by a chamberlain of William the Conqueror, and in existence upto the French Revolution. The abbey church serves the parish since then. Most buildings of the abbey got demolished after the Revolution, but the chapter house survived. I had been here about 10 years ago, when this part of the abbey was closed. This time I had more luck - and was surprised by originality and quality of the carvings. Some of the carvings here are copies, as the delicate and already weathered originals are kept in a museum in Rouen. This capital, once part of the cloister, is now exhibited in the chapter-house. It is one of the few Romanesque capitals, where a whole orchestra is depicted (another one is in Jaca). Note the large organistrum / hurdy gurdy.