Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Triumphal cross

Through Charlemagne, the mission base here became a bishop's see in 804. The Bishop was granted market, minting and customs rights by King Otto III in 989. He held the secular power in the Harzgau and thus over the inhabitants of Halberstadt. The first cathedral was consecrated in 992. By 1068, there was already an emerging merchant class, under which the city began to emancipate itself from control by the bishop's see around about 1105. In 1146, possibly the first Jews arrived in Halberstadt coming from Halle. In 1189 Jews persecuted during the Third Crusade reached the city. In 1261, the first episcopal letter of protection is documented for them. Henry the Lion destroyed the city, cathedral and cathedral castle in 1179 in the course of a feud by setting a major fire. In 1199 the construction of the city wall is mentioned for the first time, which lasted until 1236. Between 1236 and 1239, the construction of the new cathedral began. In 1241, a town hall for the city is mentioned for the first time; moreover, the city already had its own seal at this time. In 1343 the Jews were attacked by the Counts of Mansfeld and Regenstein and fled, a decade later the new so-called "Judendorf" became the first closed Jewish settlement in the city. St. Martini was probably founded in the 10th century. It was first mentioned in 1186. The building is a five-bay Gothic hall church. The octagonal spires of different heights are connected by a covered bridge. The choir is associated with indulgences in the years 1267, 1274 and 1285. The west building was probably started before 1311, the date when the church was placed under the Johannisstift. The city of Halberstadt was 82 percent destroyed by bombing at the end of WWII. The degree of destruction of the Martini Church was also estimated at 80%. From 1945 to 1954 St. Martini was restored. The main focus was on the restoration of the towers and the roof, which characterize the cityscape. The triumphal cross is probably from 1443. The hair on Christ´s head and beard is natural human hair.

The area around Lübeck, today a large city with a population of more than 200,000, had been settled by Slavs since the 7th century. Slavs had a settlement north of the present city called "Liubice", which was razed by the pagan Rani tribe in 1128. 15 years later Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, founded the modern town as a German settlement on the river island of Bucu. He built a new castle, first mentioned as existing in 1147. Adolf II had to cede the castle to the Duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, in 1158. After Henry's fall from power in 1181, the town became an Imperial city. Emperor Barbarossa ordained that the city should have a ruling council of 20 members. With the council dominated by merchants, trade interests shaped Lübeck's politics for centuries. In the 14th century, Lübeck became the "Queen of the Hanseatic League", being by far the largest and most powerful member of that medieval trade organization. In 1375, Emperor Charles IV named Lübeck one of the five "Glories of the Empire", a title shared with Venice, Rome, Pisa, and Florence. Conflicts about trading privileges resulted in fighting between Lübeck (with the Hanseatic League) and Denmark and Norway – with varying outcome. While Lübeck and the Hanseatic League prevailed in conflicts in 1435 and 1512, Lübeck lost when it became involved in a civil war that raged in Denmark from 1534 to 1536. From then on Lübeck's power slowly declined. The city remained neutral in the Thirty Years' War, but the devastation from the decades-long war and the new transatlantic orientation of European trade caused the Hanseatic League – and thus Lübeck with it – to decline in importance. However, Lübeck still remained an important trading town on the Baltic Sea. In 1160 Henry the Lion moved the bishopric of Oldenburg to Lübeck and endowed a cathedral chapter. In 1163 a wooden church was built, however, at the beginning of the 13th century, it was no longer sufficient to meet the representative demands of the self-confident burghers. St. Marien was built 1250 - 1350. It has always been a symbol of the power and prosperity of the Hanseatic city. It situated at the highest point of the island that forms the old town. Gothic cathedrals in France and Flanders made of natural stone were the models for the new construction of Lübeck's three-nave basilica. St. Marien epitomizes North German "Brick Gothic" and set the standard for many churches in the Baltic region. The church embodied the towering style of Gothic architecture using brick. The incentive for the City Council to undertake such an enormous project was rooted in the bitter dispute with the Lübeck bishopric. As a symbol of the long-distance merchants' desire for freedom and the secular power of the city, which had been free of the Empire since 1226, the church building in the immediate vicinity of Lübeck's city hall and the market square was intended to clearly and uncatchably surpass in size the city's bishop's church, Lübeck Cathedral. The large crucifix is the work of the German artist Gerhard Marcks (1889 - 1981), who was one of the Bauhaus masters in the 1920s.