Freiberg, the Silver City

We spent a little time this Easter Saturday wandering around the old part of Freiberg–you can see the old part of the city on the map above. The old town felt deserted, shops were closed, people were inside. It was quiet.

First we went to the Schloss Freudenstein, or palace. Not a soul in sight.

This is what most of the quiet streets looked like. Most of the buildings were plain and simple.

Every here or there I found a bit of decorative work, but it was not the norm.

There were 3 large old churches in the old town. All were closed. Two of the 3 have been repurposed and now are event venues for concerts or the arts.

There was one lone produce vender in the square.

This art installation is called “The Gossips.”

We are at the beginning of white asparagus season (Spargel). Yum.

Interesting pavers were like a crumb quilt.

After about an hour of wandering, we found the 3rd old church. It, too, was locked up, but at a side door we found some worker guys taking some sound equipment in, so we slipped in behind them. The rest of the photos will show what we found there.

We were really lucky to meet a young man who was a tour guide for the cathedral. He was there today helping the sound guys set up for a special Easter broadcast tomorrow. (He was there because he had the keys.) He offered to give us a tour of the cathedral and we were thrilled to spend about an hour there learning all about the history and the art and the structure itself.

The Golden Gate, or portal above is the most famous feature of this church. Here’s a bit about it:

Golden Gate

The Golden Gate in Freiberg Cathedral is a late Romanesque , arched sandstone portal created in 1225 on the south side of the cathedral. The material is the Grillenburg Sandstone from the Tharandter Forest , which was deposited in a shallow Cretaceous sea . Sculptures and richly decorated columns alternate with the robes. The portal probably formed the western entrance to the Romanesque church, which was destroyed in the fire of 1484. In the new building that followed, the architecture and architectural sculpture of the portal were carefully dismantled and inserted into the new building in late Gothic forms as a new south entrance. Originally the portal had a richly colored version.

To protect the portal from environmental influences, a porch was built in 1902/03 by the Dresden architects Schilling & Graebner , which combined the Gothic design language with the then modern Art Nouveau .

The Freiberg Golden Gate is the first complete German statue portal. Georg Dehio judged: “… rare in splendor, never surpassed in inner nobility.” The tympanum shows the enthroned Mother of God with the adoring Magi, an angel and Joseph; On the vestments there are statues of Old Testament forerunners, in the archivolts in four zones there are figures depicting redemption and the Last Judgment.

The Golden Gate is one of the major works of German art in the 13th century. Copies of the Golden Gate exist in the Adolphus Busch Hall at Harvard University in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA), in the Italian Court of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow (Russia) and in the Szépművészeti Múzeum ( Museum of Fine Arts Arts ) in Budapest (Hungary). The entire picture program was probably conveyed by the Cistercians of Altzella .

Then our kind and enthusiastic guide took us around the back where he unlocked the door to another small chapel. He told us this is the place where worship services are held now, because the large Dom is too hard to heat. He said if they turn the heat on on Wednesday, by Sunday it will only be 3 degrees warmer, and that’s too cold for people to sit through in the winter months.

This small chapel is easier to heat and keep comfortable.

This smaller chapel is also used for concerts and events.

There was a special courtyard/ hall built to display the old tombstones and very old historic pieces.

This baptismal font dates back to 1175.

Then we came back into the main part of the cathedral.

These miners and workers holding up the pulpit are famous.

One interesting thing inside was statuary of the 12 virgins lining the pillars along the center aisle of the church. On one side, the light from the windows came through and shone on them. They were happy. They were prepared with oil in their lamps. On the other side, they were in the shade, sad, unprepared, with empty lamps. Be like the happy virgins.

After our guide left us, we went back for another look at the Golden Portal. We felt really lucky we got to see this amazing cathedral and learn more about it. A happy Easter blessing.