5 Michael West - 6 months ago
Frauenkirche or " The Church of Our Lady" is an example of brick Gothic architecture, and it was built on the initiative of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (reign 1346-1378) between 1352 and 1362. The church contains many sculptures, some of them heavily restored. Numerous works of art from the Middle Ages are kept in the church, such as the so-called Tucher Altar (c. 1440, originally the high altar of the Augustinian church of St. Vitus also in Nürnberg).
The church was built in the grand market, in place of the former Jewish synagogue, which was destroyed during the Nürnberg pogrom (Jewish persecutions of 1349) which followed an outbreak of Black Death. Charles IV wanted to use the Frauenkirche for imperial ceremonies, which is reflected in the porch with the balcony, and in the fact that the church is relatively unadorned except for the coats of arms of the Holy Roman Empire, the seven Electors, the town of Nürnberg, and the city of Rome, where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. Construction of the church continued until the 1360s.
Charles IV's son Wenceslas was baptized in the church in 1361, on which occasion the Imperial Regalia, including the imperial reliquaries, were displayed to the people. References to Wenceslaus can be found throughout the sculptural program of the church. Beginning in 1423, the Imperial Regalia was kept permanently in Nürnberg and displayed to the people once a year on a special wooden platform constructed for that purpose. The current west gable of the church dates from 1506-8. Historic images show that this gable was once richly decorated with sculptures which were presumably destroyed in the Reformation. In 1525 the church became Lutheran and galleries were added in the aisles.
One of the most notable features of the church is the Männleinlaufen, a mechanical clock that commemorates the Golden Bull of 1356. The clock was installed in the church between 1506 and 1509. The Holy Roman Emperor is shown seated with the prince-electors surrounding him . The clock mechanism is activated at noon when a bell is rung to start the sequence and is followed by the trumpeters and drummer. Then there is a procession of the electors around the figure of the Holy Roman Emperor.
