Freiburg - Muenster

The city of Freiburg was founded by the Dukes of Zaehringen in 1120. The town was located at a junction of old trade routes and already in 1200 the population had risen to 6000. This was, when under Bertold V the last duke of Zaehringen, the construction of the Freiburg Muenster cathedral began, replacing an older parish church. The blueprint of the church "Muenster Unserer Lieben Frau" was very ambitious, but Freiburg was a very prosperous place, as silver mining in the nearby Black Forrest was thriving. The building of the cathedral begun in the Romanesque style and was continued and completed 1513 for the most part as a Gothic cathedral.

The cathedral is 116 meters long, 30 meters wide and the tower (seen here only under scaffolding) is 116 meters high. This tower (completed 1330) was one the highest in Germany during medieval times.


The portal to the Nikolaus-chapel, part of the late romanesque transept has a couple of surprising carvings.

Here are two mermaids (fish-sirens). The standing left one only has one tail, while the sitting right one has two tails. Even more unusual is, that both have human legs - and the right one is breast feeding a baby. This baby has a fish-tail as well - and holds a large bird.