The first chapel on the site was recorded in 1224. On March 11th, 1421, Matthäus Ensinger a master builder from Strasbourg started the construction of St. Vincent cathedral, using the greenish local sandstone. Work continued until the mid 16th C according to his original plans. Most of the church's treasures were destroyed in 1528. But some notable pieces such as the portal sculpture, choir stalls and stained-galss windows survived. The münster was finlly completed in 1893 after a gap of 3 centuries with the addition of spire.
The central portal of the cathedral has spectacular depiction of the "Last Judgement" in the Gothic style. 170 small figures are the 15th C originals. 47 larger free standing pieces were replaced by copies in 1964 and the originals are now in the Bernisches Historisches museum. The left half of the portal depicts the "saved" and the right half the "damned". The left portal has beautiful smiling figures and the right portal has naked, screaming torment figures. This portal must have appealed to the iconoclastic reformers too as they spared it from destruction.
In the very centre is Justice flanked by angels Wise and foolish virgins and above the Archangel Michael wielding a sword and scales.
This medieval building was never a Catholic church as is often stated, for there has never yet been a bishop of Bern. This now serves as a Protestant church.
3 comments:
ahhh !! they r really gud!!
Beautiful photos. The architecture seems spendid, and the 3rd and 4th photos were specially good.
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