Interior
Between 1541 and August II the Strong's conversion to Catholicism, nine rulers of Saxony were buried in the quire of the cathedral. August's mother and her sister are buried in the sisters' crypt in the All Saints chapel. Their tomb, created by the Saxon Baroque sculptor Balthasar Permoser, had originally been situated in the Lichtenburg at Prettin, but was moved to Freiberg in 1811. Another noteworthy feature is the monument honoring Maurice, Elector of Saxony, who also is buried in the Freiberg Cathedral.
Several monumental brasses form the floor of the quire. The walls are decorated with a wealth of epitaphs and sculptures of the ducal house. The design of the ceiling is a combination of painting and sculpture in the style of Italian mannerism. The transition between wall and ceiling is formed by a multitude of musical angels on the uppermost ledge of the epitaph architecture. Analysis has shown that the instruments used are real Renaissance instruments or excellent imitations. This was very useful, since no other instruments of this time were extant. These finds were examined in Leipzig, and replicas were built. Even the imitations were detailed enough to serve as a blueprint for replicas, and these instruments were relevant to allow the reproduction of the typical sound of an orchestra of the time.
A special attraction for organ enthusiasts is the great organ by Gottfried Silbermann with its three keyboards, 44 organ stops and 2574 organ pipes. Opposite of it is another, smaller Silbermann organ, which is also an excellent instrument.
The cathedral has six church bells, four of which are from the famous Hilliger casting house. The heaviest of the bells is the Große Susanne at 5 tons.
The Golden Gate is a late Romanesque arched sandstone portal on the southern side of the cathedral, adorned by sculptures and richly ornamented columns that were originally richly colorated. To protect the gate from environmental influences, an extension was built in 1902/03.
The cathedral is still used for services by the congregation. It can be visited daily for a fee in guided tours.
Read more about this topic: Freiberg Cathedral
Famous quotes containing the word interior:
“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“An absolute can only be given in an intuition, while all the rest has to do with analysis. We call intuition here the sympathy by which one is transported into the interior of an object in order to coincide with what there is unique and consequently inexpressible in it. Analysis, on the contrary, is the operation which reduces the object to elements already known.”
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941)
“Anyone with a real taste for solitude who indulges that taste encounters the dangers of any other drug-taker. The habit grows. You become an addict.... Absorbed in the visions of solitude, human beings are only interruptions. What voice can equal the voices of solitude? What sights equal the movement of a single day’s tide of light across the floor boards of one room? What drama be as continuously absorbing as the interior one?”
—Jessamyn West (1902–1984)