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    Bern Minster
    Bern Minster
    Bern Minster
    Ebook186 pages1 hour

    Bern Minster

    By Jürg Schweizer, Bernd Nicolai, Brigitte Kurmann-Schwarz and

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    About this ebook

    Bern Minster, the most important late Gothic church building in Switzerland, together with the new town hall, represents the remarkable awakening of the free city of Bern in the 15th century. The prerequisite for this were the favourable political and economic circumstances, promoted by an upwardly mobile class of merchants who rose to the ranks of the city’s patrician class. At the laying of the foundation stone in 1421, the mighty aspirations associated with the building project were already manifest in terms of size and expense. The city commissioned Matthäus Ensinger, son of the famous Strasbourg and Ulm cathedral master builder. Despite the lengthy construction period, Ensinger’s plans resulted in a church building of great harmony, with superb features including the medieval stained-glass windows, the opulently decorated vaults spanning the period from late Gothic to Renaissance and the Portal of the Last Judgement with its rich array of figures.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte
    Release dateMay 9, 2022
    ISBN9783037978030
    Bern Minster

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      Book preview

      Bern Minster - Jürg Schweizer

      Jürg Schweizer · Bernd Nicolai

      Brigitte Kurmann-Schwarz · Roland Gerber Annette Loeffel · Peter Völkle · Jasmin Christ

      Bern Minster

      Canton of Bern

      Bern Minster – Highlights

      Introduction

      The Minster in the cityscape

      Church history

      The dawn of a new era

      Architectural History

      Laying of the foundation stone, start of construction, chancel

      Rows of chapels and arcades, plinth of the west building, building stagnation

      Resumption of building activity: side aisle vaults, tower piers, tower side chapels

      Intensive phase: completion of the side aisle, choir and clerestory

      The tower

      The medieval construction site

      The Reformation

      The unfinished church

      Finished at last – the 19th century and the tower extension 1889–1893

      The perpetual building site

      Exterior tour

      The entire building, north side, choir, south side

      West side and portals

      Interior tour

      Nave

      Side aisles and side chapels

      The choir as a major work of the late Gothic period

      Tower ascent

      Appendix

      The Minster above the platform, built between 1334 and the 16thcentury. On the left, the collegiate building from 1745–1748 in the dimensions of the late Gothic House of the Teutonic Order, later the St. Vincent collegiate.

      Bern Minster – Highlights

      Bern Minster is one of the most important examples of late Gothic architecture in Switzerland. Its dominant position above the slopes of the Aare and its high west tower – only completed at the end of the 19th century – make it, even at first glance, the landmark of the city of Bern. Built in the 15th century, it was planned as a representative building for the aspiring city state, in competition with the church of St. Nicholas in Fribourg, Switzerland. Artistically, Bern Minster was influenced by major building projects along the Upper Rhine, the cathedrals of Basel (cloister vault) and Strasbourg (west tower with openwork spire) as well as Ulm Minster; but also by the large construction projects in Bohemia (Prague) and in the Danube region (Passau, Landshut). The Minster in Bern is thus also an expression of the broad horizons and great mobility of its patrons, architects and artists, who created something extraordinary here. Besides the building itself, its adornment is of particular importance. The multi-figured west portal (circa 1475) depicts the Last Judgement at the end of time, in a legible but dramatic manner, in combination with the portal figures depicting the Wise and Foolish Virgins, those who preserved the oil in their lamps and those who squandered it. The west façade leads up into the tower, past the medieval bells with the original belfry to the quadrangular gallery with busts of the master builders and stonemasons who were responsible for the tower’s completion in 1893, and then on to the octagonal gallery. From here, there is an exceptional view of the old town and the surrounding area.

      The richly decorated chancel not only preserves one of the most impressive series of stained-glass windows dating from the mid-15th century, but also, next to the eagle-shaped lectern, a three-seated sedilia, originally for the priest, designed as a miniature piece of Gothic architecture. The crowning feature is the web-like choir vault (1515–1517), the so-called Heavenly Court, with figurative branching stones depicting, among other things, the Holy Trinity, Our Lady, the apostles, evangelists and saints. There are also repeated references to the city of Bern as patron in the numerous coats of arms. The finale of this phase is the elaborate Renaissance choir stall, one of the earliest north of the Alps. The nave has large tracery windows and a late-Gothic pulpit. The beautiful star vault is to be found in the entrance bay, which dates back to 1476, where the information desk is now located.

      BN

      Introduction

      The Minster in the cityscape

      The town founded in the late 12th century, which extended from Nydegg Fortress (today Nydegg Church) to the Bell Tower (Zytglogge), built its first church on the south-facing slope, of which only a few traces have survived. In 1276, it was elevated to the status of a parish church, which led to a new building being erected, the so-called second Leutkirche. To get an impression of what it looked like, it is worth looking at the mendicant church (nowadays Französische Kirche) in Bern, which was built around the same time and can be considered a larger version.

      Together with its walled churchyard, the Leutkirche was embedded in the original city plan, which is still well preserved today. The cemetery was extended in stages. Strikingly, the terrace of about 24 m in height, begun in 1334, was already as wide as it is today towards the south. It encompassed the eastern two-thirds of today’s terrace and is easily recognisable from the buttresses and the tuff. Later, the retaining walls were built up by 8 metres to their current height, reinforced and, from 1514, extended towards the west by a third to their present imposing size. The cemetery was removed in 1531 after the Reformation and the surviving public park was created. The corner pavilions were renovated in 1778 by the architect Niklaus Sprüngli in the late Baroque style. The imposing extension of the terrace, known as the platform, was a reaction in the early 16th century to the completed Minster building which was thus anchored monumentally into the fabric of the city. With its peripheral position in the city alongside the platform, the Minster was considered a prototype for large buildings in Bern until the early 20th century.

      The urban planning changes made necessary by expanding the church on the three other sides were also undertaken in the 15th century, in particular with the demolition of the churchyard walls. The most significant alteration was the creation of the Minster Square (Münsterplatz). The eastern half was part of the churchyard until well into the 15th century, while the western half was built over with private houses. In-between a narrow alley, a continuation of the Münstergässchen, led from Münstergasse to Herrengasse. Between 1491 and 1506, the city council had the lowest five town houses opposite the large west building demolished to give the Minster the necessary free space. The fountain was built in 1544, but its present form with Moses on the column dates from 1790. During the 18th century, the houses were almost entirely renovated; only the house at 30 Münstergasse has retained its late Gothic form from 1569, shortly after the square was created. In addition to the attractive southern end of the square with its late Baroque collegiate building, constructed in 1745 by

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