The Holy Trinity – God the Son
The decision to re-glaze the choir was made as early as 1906, but the realization was delayed due to financial and historical reasons (including the Great War) – which is why the designs and execution spanned subsequent decades. The “God the Son” stained glass is one of the three windows closing the choir, forming an iconographic program dedicated to the Holy Trinity; it belongs to the two side windows flanking the axial window. Thematically, it corresponds to the Second Person of the Trinity: Christ – the Victorious Redeemer.
A story “for ordinary people”: how to read this window
This window acts like an expertly edited story in the vertical dimension: from the “text” (Gospel) at the bottom, through the event (Resurrection) in the center, up to the meaning (glory and throne in heaven) at the top. Mehoffer makes this a theological elevator: you get in at the bottom and ride to the top.
1) First, the Center grabs you: The Risen One
In the middle zone, you see Christ: a bright body, an intense nimbus, and a cloak that looks like a flame and a ribbon simultaneously. The figure does not stand “on the ground” – it hovers and literally “emerges” from the composition.
2) On the sides: Consternation instead of fanfares
In the side lancets, guards appear: one kneels, another covers his face, someone looks as if torn from sleep. This is deeply human: when a miracle happens, the first reaction is often not delight, but disbelief.
3) The most important conceptual bridge: The Eucharist in the very center of the narrative
Lower down, two angels hold a chalice and a host over the empty tomb/sarcophagus. This is the key: Mehoffer links the Resurrection with the liturgy. As if saying: “This is not just a story from centuries ago — it returns in the sign, here and now.”
4) At the very bottom: The Four Gospels as „vehicles of meaning“
In the plinth zone, a book (the Gospels) and the symbols of the Evangelists (Tetramorph) appear:
- Lion (Mark),
- Ox (Luke),
- Eagle (John),
- Man/Angel (Matthew).
And this is as logical as the construction of a bridge: Christ leaves a message, and it has its “witnesses” and carriers. Without the Gospel, only a beautiful image remains. With the Gospel – a history that has a direction.
5) Higher up: Signs of glory and the „Throne Zone“
In the upper parts, the composition begins to sound like music: ornament, rhythm, geometric fields, luminous motifs (including the motif of a heart wrapped in a ribbon as a sign of love/sacrifice), and the whole arranges itself into an order resembling a prepared “throne zone” for the Risen One. Here, Mehoffer’s presbyterial feature is visible: less floral softness, more construction.
Concept and Inspirations
In the way the Risen One is shown (hovering in glory above the tomb), researchers see a clear echo of famous painterly solutions known from the European tradition of Paschal depictions — with an intense emphasis on supernatural light and the triumph over death. Iconographically, the window emphasizes Christ as King and Redeemer, whose victory has a consequence “here below” (Gospel, liturgy, sacrament).
Stylistic and Workshop Characteristics
- Evolution of Style: This is late Mehoffer – the Secessionist line is still at work, but it increasingly gives way to forms that are more synthetic, axial, and geometric, bringing the whole closer to early Art Deco.
- “Musicality” of the Composition: The dense mesh of lead and the mosaic fragmentation of colors are not a “technical necessity” here, but a conscious method of building rhythm – the window is literally “read” like a musical score.
- Role of the Workshop: Kirsch/Kirch & Fleckner translate the design into glass with immense discipline in painting and assembly — that is why, despite the complexity, everything remains legible from a distance.
What to zoom in on in the Gigapixel (ready-made list of frames)
- Face of Christ and body modeling: How the painting „sculpts“ light on milky glass.
- Drapery of the cloak: Reds/purples create movement that static glass “should not” be able to achieve.
- Reactions of the guards: Hand gestures and faces: pure „psychology of stained glass.“
- Angels with Chalice and Host: The knot of meaning for the entire window.
- Empty Tomb / Sarcophagus and Stone: Materiality built from a mosaic of colors.
- The Book (Gospels) and Inscriptions: „Reading“ details that bind the program together.
- Tetramorph: (Lion, Ox, Eagle, Human/Angel figure) – the essence of iconography in a nutshell.
- Heart motif wrapped in a ribbon: A symbolic signature of „why all this happened.“
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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