Secular Fribourg
This window constitutes the secular counterpart to the window of Ecclesiastical History („Ecclesiastical Fribourg”). Together, they complete the iconographic program of the choir: one tells the story of the institution of the Church, the other of the city and its political-military memory — and both end with a hard collision with the 20th century. It is an idealizing chronicle of the city, conducted from medieval beginnings to the trauma of World War I. Mehoffer commands this window to be read vertically downwards, as if saying: „the city has layered memory”.
Iconographic Arrangement (Vertical Analysis: From Top to Bottom)
1) Upper Register – „The Myth of Origin”: The City Founder
At the summit, Duke Berchtold IV von Zähringen — the founder of Fribourg (1157) — rushes on a black horse. The dynamic gallop is not a decoration, but a statement: here begins the story of the city’s statehood and order. This is accompanied by titular inscriptions (including „BERCHTOLDUS”, „DUX”, „RECTOR”, „DEI GRATIA”).
2) Below – Military Glory and the „Defenders of Liberty”
Directly beneath the founder appears the personification of Military Glory (with a trumpet), surrounded by Confederates bearing banners. In the inscription band falls the key slogan:
DEFENSORES – LIBERTATIS – ECCLESIAE
meaning „Defenders of the Liberty of the Church”. This is important: even „Secular Fribourg” is shown as a community whose political and legal history is intertwined with the religious order.
3) Middle Register – Politics in Practice: Rome, Document, and the Year 1512
In the center of the narrative appears Peter Falk (c. 1468–1519), flanked by Popes Julius II (d. 1513) and Leo X (elected 1513). This fragment commemorates a specific diplomatic and legal success: in 1512, the Council of Fribourg obtained from the Curia the elevation of the parish church of St. Nicholas to the rank of a Collegiate Church (Stift).
Here, the window speaks plainly: the history of the city is not just the sword — it is also the law, seals, and institutional decisions.
4) Lower Register (Narrative) – Liturgy and Patria
Further down, the sequence transitions into an image of community continuity: a Mass at St. Nicholas and the personification of Patria (The Fatherland / Community) appear. This is a clasp connecting „local history” with the idea of collective identity — here it is no longer about a single date, but about memory as the foundation of endurance.
The Plinth Zone: History and Modernity (1914–1918)
Here Mehoffer does something bold: into a window about a „glorious past”, he suddenly lets in the present, and in its harshest version.
- Allegory of History: A woman at a spinning wheel as a spinning Norn — History literally „spins the thread of time”.
- Memory of World War I: The flanking dates 1914 and 1918 lead directly to war trauma.
- Mourning: A woman in black covering her face with her hands embodies the loss of those fallen on the „fields of glory”.
- Symbolism of Palms: Palm branches act ambiguously — as a sign of martyrdom/victory, but also as a cold „medal of memory” that does not undo the pain.
Ideological Synthesis: What this is really about
The window is built on temporal dualism:
- Idealization of the past – foundation of the city, glory, banners, diplomatic successes (1512).
- Commentary on the designer’s present – the war of 1914–1918 as a wound in collective memory.
In a duet with the „Ecclesiastical Fribourg” window, we get a full picture of Fribourg: institution + community, pride + the price of history.
What to zoom in on in the Gigapixel (frame by frame)
- Berchtold IV on horseback: Details of the harness, pennant, gold against ultramarine.
- Titular Inscriptions: „BERCHTOLDUS”, „DUX”, „RECTOR”, „DEI GRATIA” (typography as an element of the image).
- Glory with Trumpet: Face, contour, jewelry, rhythm of lines.
- Slogan Bands: DEFENSORES / LIBERTATIS / ECCLESIAE (the strongest ideological „poster”).
- Peter Falk + Popes Julius II and Leo X: Tiaras, keys, facial modeling.
- Fragment with A.D. 1512 and banderole („INIUNCTUM NOBIS”): „Document within an image”.
- Coats of Arms and Shields: Enamels, gilding, rhythm of ornament.
- Mass at St. Nicholas: Book, gestures, light on white.
- Patria: Crown, reds versus greens.
- Plinth: 1914 / 1918, woman in mourning, and Norn at the spinning wheel — the emotional culmination.
Monographs (Core Literature)
- Tadeusz Adamowicz, Witraże fryburskie Józefa Mehoffera: monografia zespołu, Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1982.
The most complete classic study in Polish: iconography, 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).
„Window-by-window monograph”: documentation, attributions, description of the program and workshop; the foundation for research on the Swiss/German side.
- Gérard Bourgarel / Grzegorz Tomczak / Augustin Pasquier (eds./contrib.), Józef Mehoffer: de Cracovie à Fribourg, ce flamboyant art nouveau polonais, Fribourg: Pro Fribourg 106/107, 1995 (collective publication; approx. 120 pp.).
The most important volume in French: local reception, Fribourg contexts, workshop themes (including Kirsch & Fleckner), interpretive essays.
- Tadeusz Stryjeński, Vitraux de Joseph Mehoffer à la Cathédrale de Fribourg, Kraków, 1929.
Early, historical perspective (valuable as a testimony of the era and the circulation of opinion).
- Hortensia von Roda, Les vitraux de Jozef von Mehoffer, Fribourg: Pro Fribourg (no. 67), 1985.
Early synthetic publication (preceding the „full” monograph of 1995).
Gigapixels
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