The Holy Trinity – God the Fathe

This is the central window of the Holy Trinity cycle in the presbytery – “God the Father.” Mehoffer attempted something inherently risky here, for God the Father is, in principle, “impossible” to depict. Yet, this stained glass window acts like a magnet: it first attracts the eye with a massive face, and only a moment later does one realize that this is not a portrait. It is a revelation.

1) First, the Gaze strikes you

In the very center of the window appears the monumental countenance of the Creator – immense, almost “cosmic,” as if emerging from an order different than ours. Above it, a triangle (the sign of the Trinity) and a tiara are visible – not as a decoration, but as a signal: you are looking at a reality “above the world.”
The palette does the heavy lifting here: royal purple, sapphire, turquoise, gold, ruby, milky white. These are colors that do not describe matter – they build an aura.

2) Not a face “in the air” — creation “emerges” from it

Around the head of God, the cosmic order spills out: the sun, the moon, and the stars. This is brilliant because Mehoffer does not illustrate a simple “God created” as if in a textbook. He shows it through the construction of the image: as if the cosmos were a thought that is just becoming light.

And here appears the key sentence, which in this window serves as a signature on the founding act of the world:
“Je suis celui qui suis” – “I am who I am.”
These are God’s words from the Book of Exodus. Mehoffer makes them a frame for the motionless, monumental face of the Creator: the face becomes the axis of the entire representation, while the order of creation swirls around it.

3) Then you descend lower… and suddenly you are on earth

You are led downwards by a “chain” of winged angel heads – rhythm, repetition, something like visual music. And at a certain moment, this heavenly cloud transitions into the most dramatic point of the narrative: the Burning Bush.
This is no longer cosmology. This is history. A concrete place, time, and human being. The moment when the absolute touches the world.

Mehoffer does not paint the bush as dry desert scrub. In his vision, the bush is alive: it burns, but at the same time, it is flowering and colorful. It is a stained-glass paradox: fire that does not destroy, but reveals.

4) At the very bottom stands Moses — man at the center of history

And here is your “crown evidence”: in the lower (“plinth”) section, signs appear that complete the meaning of the entire window:
the bust of Moses, the Tablets of the Law, and the Ark of the Covenant.

The composition acts like a theological ladder: from the revelation in the bush, through cosmic light, down to the law and the covenant – that is, things that regulate the life of the community. In other words: not only “God appeared,” but also “God leaves an order” – something one can hold on to.

At the very bottom, among the plants, sacrificial animals (lamb/sheep) are also visible. This is very “Mehoffer-esque”: with a single gesture, he binds together the themes of God, covenant, and sacrifice, without preaching explicitly.

And this is the best part of this window: even though the subject is “unearthly,” Mehoffer renders it surprisingly legible. As if he were saying:
“Relax — this is not about abstraction. This is about You: where meaning comes from and why man has something to hold on to.”

What to zoom in on in the Gigapixel (ready-made list of frames)

1. The Trinity Triangle and Tiara: The entire metaphysics of the window is there.
2. God the Father’s Eyes and Beard: See how the painting on clear glass creates the impression of light “from within.”
3. Sun / Moon / Stars: The cosmos made of tiny cuts of glass, like a mosaic.
4. Cloud of Angels: The rhythm of heads and wings (pure “music” of stained glass).
5. Inscription “Je suis celui qui suis”: How it works as a frame and meaning.
6. The Burning Bush: The interplay of red and gold is pure dramaturgy.
7. Moses (face and hands): Here the class of the workshop is visible.
8. Tablets of the Law and Ark of the Covenant: Iconographic details binding the narrative.
9. Background Ornaments: Because here Secession acts like the nervous system of the scene: it connects everything.

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).