Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: bronze baptismal font

Schwerin is the capital German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with less than 100000 inhabitants it is the least populous of all German state capitals. Schwerin is enclosed by lakes. In the middle part of these lakes was a settlement of the Slavic Abodrites way before 1000. The settlement was first mentioned in 1018. After Henry the Lion had defeated the Abodrites, he had the defences rebuilt and granted city rights. 1160 is therefore traditionally regarded as the "German" year of Schwerin's foundation. After Henry the Lion had now subjugated the lands of the Obotrites, he appointed a bishop in the (already abandoned) bishopric of Mecklenburg. This bishop moved the bishopric from remote Mecklenburg to Schwerin in 1167. There, in the presence of Henry the Lion himself, an act of consecration took place in 1171 on the Romanesque predecessor building of today's cathedral. At this time, only the apse will have been completed. The entire cathedral was not consecrated until 1248. Of this building, not much is left. When Count Heinrich von Schwerin returned from the Crusade in 1222 he presented the church the valuable relic of the Holy Blood. So the cathedral became the most important pilgrimage church in north-eastern Germany. The Romanesque basilica was too small - and so the construction of the new Schwerin Cathedral began around 1270. In 1327 the new choir was completed. By the end of the 14th century, the transept and the nave were finished except for the vaults. Builders from Stralsund completed the windows of the nave and its vaulting in 1416, thus ending the building history of the Gothic basilica of Schwerin Cathedral. The very most of the cathedral´s medieval furnishing got lost during the iconoclasms of the Reformation and the later "renovations". None of the 42 side-altars survived and even the "Holy Blood" relic was burned by Duke Johann Albrecht around 1550. The octagonal bronze baptismal font has survived the centuries. Before the Reformation, the children were baptised Catholic here, afterwards Protestant. The baptismal font was cast by an unkown masterprobably in Schwerin at the end of the 13th century.

With a population of about 90.000, Flensburg is, after Kiel and Lübeck, the third-largest town in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg was founded at the latest by the middle of the 12th century at the end of the Flensburg Firth by Danish settlers, who were soon joined by German merchants. The place was considered a safe haven with protection from strong winds. Two important trade routes of the time crossed here and the large number of herrings in the firth was a factor for economic well-being. These herrings (pickled in salt) were sent across Europe in medieval times. In 1284 Danish King Erik Glipping granted the new town charter, the content of which suggests a very lively trade. Duke Waldemar IV of Schleswig confirmed the town charter. Flensburg quickly became the most important city in the Duchy of Schleswig, a Danish fiefdom with the Danish king as feudal lord, which, in contrast to Holstein, which is adjacent to the south, did not belong to the Holy Roman Empire. During Denmark's war against the Hanseatic League and Holstein, Danish mercenaries first conquered and looted the city in 1426, followed by Holstein and Hanseatic mercenaries in 1431. St. Nicolai is a Gothic hall church. The construction started around 1390. There were two construction stages In 1332, a smaller church stood in place of the present chancel. The building grew first on their forecourt. After completion of the four western bays, the old church was demolished and the construction continued to the east from 1440. The church is 52 meters long and 21 meters wide. In 1497 Peter Hansen cast the bronze baptismal font in Flensburg.