Photos, videos and docs of Martin M. Miles, with the keywords: "Basel"

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:59:07 +0000

The first (carolingian) church here is named "Haito Muenster", as Bishop Haito ( as well abbot of the important Reichenau Abbey) had comissioned it. It was completed around 825.

The foundations of these structure were reused, when the so called "Heinrich Muenster" was built just after 1000, sponsored and named after Emperor Heinrich II (Henry II) of the Ottonian dynasty. Already in 1019 this church got consecrated.

The Muenster seen today is the third large church, erected 1180 - 1220/30. The late romanesque church had five towers, that all got destroyed (with most vaultings) in 1356 during the worst earthquake ever recorded in Central Europe. Modern seismologists estimate a magnitude of 7.1.

The rebuilding of the Muenster was led by Johannes Parler, who at the same time was employed for building the Freiburg Muenster. So there are a lot of parallels between these two Muensters, only 70 kms apart.

About 1500 the Muenster was finally completed in a combination of late romanesque and gothic style. The restauration process started about 400 years later. Pollution caused a lot of damage and meanwhile many of the carvings outside the church have been replaced by copies. So many of the details seen on the shots may be - copies.

Looking east to the choir. Some art historians have compared the structure of the side walls with the CLUNY III. The interior differs surprisingly from the Freiburg Muenster.

The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland differed from that one in Germany, as the Swiss Reformators (Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Johannes Oekolampad..) had a way more radical approach, than their Lutherian collegues.

During the 9th of February 1529 a group of about 200 people forced their way into this (at that time still catholic) church and in a kind of frenzy destroyed all reachable crucifixes, statues and altars, just everything what was connected to "idolatry" in their thinking.

The same afternoon the iconoclasm extended to many other churches in Basel as well. I wonder, why the the fast and furious iconoclasts did not destroy the many works, done by the stone carvers in and outside the church. Obviously only "holy" objects had to burn.

Here is one of the many capitals around the choir, unfortunately the light is a bit dim around the choir, so the photo is blurry (sorry!). This capital is one of the many parallels to Freiburg, as like in the Freiburg Muenster, here is Alexander the Great going up to heaven in a basket, powered by two griffins. Alexander controls the griffins by holding up two roasted puppies on sticks.

The Alexander-theme is not "extremely" rare, but twice within 70kms cannot be just accidently.

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:04:18 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The first proven (carolingian) church here is named "Haito Muenster", as Bishop Haito ( as well abbot of the important Reichenau Abbey) had comissioned it. It was completed around 825.

The foundations of this structure were reused, when the so called "Heinrich Muenster" was built just after 1000, sponsored and named after Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich II (Henry II) of the Ottonian dynasty. The church had a nave, two aisles - and parts of this church, consecrated 1019, can still be found.

The Muenster seen today is the third large structure here, erected 1180 -1220/30. The late romanesque church had five towers, that all got destroyed (with most vaultings) during the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Central Europe in 1356. Seismologists estimate a magnitude of 7.1.
The rebuilding of the Muenster was led by Johannes Parler (aka Johannes von Gmuend), who at the same time was employed for building the Freiburg Muenster. So there are a lot of parallels between these two Muensters, only 70 kms apart.

Once (of course) a Catholic cathedral this is now a reformed Protestant church. It is loaded with great architectural, artistic details - and offers thrilling and touching stories.

I found the scaffolding so nice, that I just started a set "Great Scaffoldings"...

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:11:48 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The first (carolingian) church here is named "Haito Muenster", as Bishop Haito ( as well abbot of the important Reichenau Abbey) had comissioned it. It was completed around 825.

The foundations of these structure were reused, when the so called "Heinrich Muenster" was built just after 1000, sponsored and named after Emperor Heinrich II (Henry II) of the Ottonian dynasty. Already in 1019 this church got consecrated.

The Muenster seen today is the third large church, erected 1180 - 1220/30. The late romanesque church had five towers, that all got destroyed (with most vaultings) in 1356 during the worst earthquake ever recorded in Central Europe. Modern seismologists estimate a magnitude of 7.1.

The rebuilding of the Muenster was led by Johannes Parler, who at the same time was employed for building the Freiburg Muenster. So there are a lot of parallels between these two Muensters, only 70 kms apart.

About 1500 the Muenster was finally completed in a combination of late romanesque and gothic style. The restauration process started about 400 years later. Pollution caused a lot of damage and meanwhile many of the carvings outside the church have been replaced by copies. So many of the details seen on the shots may be - copies.

Looking east to the choir. Some art historians have compared the structure of the side walls with the CLUNY III. The interior differs surprisingly from the Freiburg Muenster.

The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland differed from that one in Germany, as the Swiss Reformators (Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Johannes Oekolampad..) had a way more radical approach, than their Lutherian collegues.

During the 9th of February 1529 a group of about 200 people forced their way into this (at that time still catholic) church and in a kind of frenzy destroyed all reachable crucifixes, statues and altars, just everything what was connected to "idolatry" in their thinking.

The same afternoon the iconoclasm extended to many other churches in Basel as well. I wonder, why the the fast and furious iconoclasts did not destroy the many works, done by the stone carvers in and outside the church. Obviously only "holy" objects had to burn.

Here is one of the many capitals around the choir. The head of a melancholic human - and conjoined twins. I have often seen a pair of lions sharing one head, this is the first pair of monkeys.

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:24:43 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:28:50 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:19:07 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:03:14 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:23:19 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The first (carolingian) church here is named "Haito Muenster", as Bishop Haito ( as well abbot of the important Reichenau Abbey) had comissioned it. It was completed around 825.

The foundations of these structure were reused, when the so called "Heinrich Muenster" was built just after 1000, sponsored and named after Emperor Heinrich II (Henry II) of the Ottonian dynasty. Already in 1019 this church got consecrated.

The Muenster seen today is the third large church, erected 1180 - 1220/30. The late romanesque church had five towers, that all got destroyed (with most vaultings) in 1356 during the worst earthquake ever recorded in Central Europe. Modern seismologists estimate a magnitude of 7.1.

The rebuilding of the Muenster was led by Johannes Parler, who at the same time was employed for building the Freiburg Muenster. So there are a lot of parallels between these two Muensters, only 70 kms apart.

About 1500 the Muenster was finally completed in a combination of late romanesque and gothic style. The restauration process started about 400 years later. Pollution caused a lot of damage and meanwhile many of the carvings outside the church have been replaced by copies. So many of the details seen on the shots may be - copies.

Looking east to the choir. Some art historians have compared the structure of the side walls with the CLUNY III. The interior differs surprisingly from the Freiburg Muenster.

The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland differed from that one in Germany, as the Swiss Reformators (Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Johannes Oekolampad..) had a way more radical approach, than their Lutherian collegues.

During the 9th of February 1529 a group of about 200 people forced their way into this (at that time still catholic) church and in a kind of frenzy destroyed all reachable crucifixes, statues and altars, just everything what was connected to "idolatry" in their thinking.

The same afternoon the iconoclasm extended to many other churches in Basel as well. I wonder, why the the fast and furious iconoclasts did not destroy the many works, done by the stone carvers in and outside the church. Obviously only "holy" objects had to burn.

This mermaid is another parallel to the Freiburg Muenster, as there as well is a breastfeeding mermaid. The baby holds a fish. The mermaid has legs, at least one (on the left) is visible. The artistic composition differs fairly from her Freiburg-sister, but like there the place of the carving is dim - and so the photo is blurry.

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:22:57 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Basel - Muenster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:27:48 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted: