The Old Beauty
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©BZ/Rita Eggenstein
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What the Old Faithful is to the Americans, the Old Beauty is to the
Freiburgers. You may have guessed. I am referring to the spire of
our Minster church, sometimes falsely called the most beautiful
spire of Christendom.
In 1869, in a eulogy, the well-known art historian Jakob Burckhardt instead wrote, "And the Freiburg spire will probably remain
the most beautiful one on earth." Indeed, finished in 1383, the
pyramid's intricate filigree structure is sometimes referred to as
spiritual stonework.
L'âge oblige. The steeple had to be restored several times; the
two recent major reconstruction works took place from 1913 to 1920
(left) and in the 1960s (right). Both photos
©Münsterbauverein(MBV).
At the beginning of the 21st century, the
Münster-Bauhütte (Minster stonemasonry) initially envisioned
only minor repairs to the spire. Still, a dramatic stone fall in
2005 revealed several loose construction elements that needed to be
fixed.
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One early morning in 2005, near the main entrance to the Minster church
(©MBV)
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To their astonishment, the stonemasons discovered that some sandstone replaced
at the beginning of the 20th century had become brittle, while the original
blocks from the 14th century remained in good shape. This fact required a closer
look at the material to be used for replacing the rotten elements.
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More than a decade of scaffolding (©MBV)
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The scaffolding was erected in 2007, and soon, the stonemasons discovered cracks
in approximately half of the original 24 cornerstones. Eight of them needed to
be replaced, while others could be saved by clamping them with titanium
brackets. Thus, an iron ring around the spire visible from below could be
avoided.
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A look into the spire (©MBV)
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Replacing a cornerstone carrying the weight of the overlaying stone pyramid is
like open-heart surgery, as Minster Master Builder Yvonne Faller emphasized in
her report to the
Münsterpfleger
(Caretakers of the Minster). These complications were the reason why it took
twelve years to complete the restoration of the Minster spire. During this
period, 121 stones were replaced entirely, while 225 stones had only parts
changed.
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Note the difference between the old and new parts (©MBV)
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The spire comprises 2,165 stones, of which 83% are still original, dating before 1340.
The costs for the repair amounted to 11.5 million euros, of which 5,9 million
were donated. The rest was contributed by the Freiburg diocese, the State of
Baden-Würtemberg, the city of Freiburg, and the Foundation for the
Preservation of German Historical Monuments.
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Again, the replacements are clearly visible (©MBV)
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Some other ongoing work in the interior of the Minster church is expected to
be completed by October. Then, Red Baron, one of the
Münsterpfleger,
will be invited to the big "re-inauguration" party.
**
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