Freiberg - Dom St. Marien

Freiberg came into being around 1162/1170. Between 1156 and 1162, Margrave Otto von Meissen had the forest cleared and several villages laid out, including Christiansdorf. In 1168 silver ore was discovered near Christiansdorf. The promise of special freedoms for the miners attracted numerous miners, traders and craftsmen, along with their families, to the Ore Mountains. Due to the wave of immigration, the city of Freiberg developed within two decades. This name is derived from the important feature, the freedom of mining introduced by Margrave Otto, i.e. the mining rights of every immigrant. Anyone could dig for the silver ore for a fee. The silver could only be sold to the margravial mint. The wealth of silver and the mint made the Electorate of Saxony a prosperous state.

Further development in the 13th century is characterized by constant growth after the municipality was almost completely destroyed by a city fire around 1225. A town school was established in 1260, which had been converted into a Latin school in 1515. In the 14th century, crises gradually emerged, which were mainly caused by the decline in silver production from the middle of the 14th century and by large-scale city fires. In the 15th century, Freiberg lost its leading economic position within Saxony to Leipzig due to the exodus of capital.

The Bergakademie was founded in 1765, one of the world's oldest mining engineering universities.
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Around 1180, the Romanesque basilica "Unserer Lieben Frauen" was built in Freiberg, which was developing rapidly due to the silver that had been found. In 1480, the church was turned into a Collegiate church. However, the college was dissolved after only 57 years due to the reformation of the Electorate of Saxony. In the great fire of 1484, the church was almost completely destroyed. The "Cathedral of St. Mary" was built at the same location as a triple-naved Gothic hall church. The cathedral was reconsecrated in 1512.

The Tulpenkanzel

The Tukpenkanzel (tulip pulpit) is attributed to the sculptor H.W. (probably Hans Witten von Köln). The particularly delicate work exploits the limits of what is reasonable for the stone to the extreme and was probably created between 1505 and 1510. The pulpit is not supported by a wall or pillars (apart from iron anchors), and so it seems as if this masterpiece grows out of the ground like a four-stemmed calyx. These stems are tied to the inner shaft twice with cords. Singing angel children play between the two lacings. The four church fathers appear on the calyx. The dominant figures are a richly dressed man (maybe the donor of the pulpit?), reclining at the foot of the pulpit, surrounded by lions (or Daniel?) and a squire (maybe a self-portrait of Master H.W.) bearing the burden of the spiral staircase on his shoulders. The squire is sitting on a forked branch of a tree trunk below the staircase.