Our Lady of Victory

This window is like a triumphal hymn — only instead of music you have sapphires, rubies, and gold. It is the second window of the south chapels, funded by the State of Fribourg in the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Victory. Its subject touches historical memory: the stained glass recalls the victory at Murten (1476) and a time when faith was meant to unite, not divide, the Confederates.

First you see movement: victorious warriors return from battle, carrying banners. Then you perceive a hierarchy of meaning: above them hovers Saint Michael with a flaming sword, and higher still — like a revelation, like a sudden illumination — appears the Virgin in a radiant glory, surrounded by a heavenly retinue. This is not “one scene.” It is an entire construction of meaning: earthly victory, heavenly protection, and communal memory.

And here Mehoffer comes into his own: the artist breaks the rules of the competition, which required “one figure per lancet.” Instead of four separate images, he creates one — a single, great composition stitched across four strips of glass. The effect is cinematic: you look, and you feel as if the composition “flows” through the stone divisions of the window.

Only in the crowns (the heads of the lancets), above the band of stars, does the artist leave a more “classical” order: there appear the theological virtues (as if an echo of the competition requirement, now subordinated to the whole).

Tension around the project: “too Slavic,” “too small,” “change the signs”

This window also has an excellent “behind-the-scenes” history: when Mehoffer presented the design, demands for changes followed. Critics argued that the image of Mary was too Slavic and too small; they wanted the banners to contain explicit signs of the participating estates, and even the inscription became a matter of dispute. Despite the pressure and revisions, the windows were ultimately installed — and rightly so, because in this form the window is simply dramatically effective.

Helvetia: the most important “human” moment in the entire image

In the lower part of the left window there is a single gesture that arrests the eye: a kneeling figure turned away from the viewer — Helvetia. And this is mastery: the heroine of collective memory does not stand frontally like a monument. She is turned toward the people, giving them the meaning of victory. She offers a laurel wreath to two men bearing the shield of Fribourg.

From her shoulders flows a purple cloak (purple / carmines), adorned with crossed palms of victory and rich borders. And here you encounter the marvel of the gigapixel image: these borders are painted in silver stain on white glass — in situ this produces an effect of “cool sheen” that is not paint, but a phenomenon of light.

In her right hand Helvetia holds a helmet with a plume of peacock feathers, covered by a sapphire cloak. This detail is like a test of craftsmanship: only up close do you see that it is a dense network of lead and dozens of tiny pieces of glass that, from a distance, coalesce into a single “fabric.”

And Helvetia’s hair? Another sign of the period around 1900: high-contrast shading that gives a sculptural effect — as if light were touching the strands.

Style: why “historicism and Secession” do not conflict here

• Historicism is present primarily in the subject and the narrative costume (the memory of battles, the allegory of Helvetia, banners, signs of the community).
• Secession / Jugendstil is present in the visual language: ornament, the band of stars, mosaic-like fields of color, the lead contour as drawing, the theatrical composition “under architecture.”

How to view the gigapixel photograph (a simple plan)

1. First, the band of stars — the horizon of the composition (golden yellow on navy).
2. Then the center: the Virgin in glory and Saint Michael — “heaven” enters history.
3. Move lower: the standards and inclined banners — the gesture of victory and thanksgiving.
4. Finally, click into the lower part of the left window: Helvetia and her cloak — there you will see the true tour de force of execution.

Suggested frames for gigapixel close-ups (10 “clicks”)

1. The face and crown of Mary + halo: gold, white, blues.
2. The angelic retinue around Mary: rhythm of wings and the lead contour.
3. Saint Michael and the flaming sword: reds, golds, blues.
4. The band of stars: pattern, repetition, ornament as a “musical note.”
5. Inclined banners and their signs: heraldry and geometry in a Secessionist line.
6. Helvetia (figure seen from behind): gesture and the psychology of composition.
7. Helvetia’s purple cloak with palms and borders: purple, carmine, accents of gold.
8. Borders painted on white glass (the effect of cool sheen): whites, greys.
9. The helmet and peacock feathers: greens, turquoises, sapphire.
10. Helvetia’s hair: high-contrast shading (schwarzlot) and micro-modeling.

Monographs (core literature)

• Tadeusz Adamowicz, Witraże fryburskie Józefa Mehoffera: monografia zespołu, Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1982.
  The most comprehensive classic study in Polish: iconography, the genesis of the program, analysis of style and context (from the perspective of Polish art history).
• Hortensia von Roda, Die Glasmalereien von Józef Mehoffer in der Kathedrale St. Nikolaus in Freiburg i. Üe., Bern: Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte (GSK), 1995 (series Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte der Schweiz, no. 7; ISBN 3-7165-0969-8).
  A “window-by-window” monograph: documentation, attributions, description of the program and workshop practice; a foundation for research on the Swiss/German side.
• Gérard Bourgarel / Grzegorz Tomczak / Augustin Pasquier (eds./collab.), Józef Mehoffer: de Cracovie à Fribourg, ce flamboyant art nouveau polonais, Fribourg: Pro Fribourg 106/107, 1995 (collective volume; approx. 120 pp.).
  The key Francophone volume: local reception, Fribourg contexts, workshop-related issues (including Kirch & Fleckner), and interpretative essays.
• Tadeusz Stryjeński, Vitraux de Joseph Mehoffer à la Cathédrale de Fribourg, Kraków, 1929.
  An early historical account (valuable as a document of its period and of contemporary critical reception).