We left Nuremberg bright and early for our 4 hour drive north to Erfurt, which was formerly part of East Germany. The views out of the window were so stunningly beautiful. It was hard to waste the time sleeping, when there was so much to see.
Welcome to Erfurt! This was our youth hostel for the night, a former East German police station. We came to Erfurt to visit the cathedral, the stained glass conservation workshop, and to be introduced to the Erfurt Stained Glass Conservation MA program and students. First a look at Erfurt and the Cathedral.
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| Erfurt Cathedral (left) and St. Severus Church (right). The Cathedral (of Saint Mary), unusually situated on a hillside, dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. Martin Luther was ordained in Erfurt Cathedral in 1507. |
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| Statues of Mary surround the exterior. |
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| The spires of the Dom reach out into the Domplatz, just touching the town. |
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| The baroque high altar partially obscures the stained glass of the east window. |
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Nonetheless the brilliant colors of the glass are breath-taking!
The narrow space of the apse with the high thin windows made it quite difficult to get a good photo. |
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| But I still tried. |
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| The range of colors are like brilliant jewels. |
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| The choir was intricately carved with an abundance of Saints. |
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Saint Christopher greets visitors on the south wall as one enters the church. In medieval times,
seeing Saint Christopher in the morning was supposed to help avert sudden death during the day. |
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| Polychrome paint is still visible behind the statues of the tympanum. |
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| In the conservation studio, which is housed in the church of Saint Severus next door, we saw the difficult conservation challenges that have been inherited from past care-takers. These windows have all been covered with wax in an effort to preserve the paint layers. However, this can not be removed and requires huge amounts of maintenance. This photo shows before and after conservation and cleaning (left is after). |
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| Some local lads enjoy the setting sun in the West porch of the Cathedral of Saint Mary. |
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| A ceremonial doorway. |
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| My old friend the Green Man. |
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| Even more magical by moonlight! |
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| A candelit evening with students from the Erfurt University Conservation Department. |
In the morning we were given a tour of the Erfurt University Conservation program, with a welcome by the University President and lecture with Department Head, Dr. Sebastian Strobl, who managed the conservation program at Canterbury Cathedral for over 12 years. The following photos are some of the unique projects that Dr. Strobl's students are currently working on.
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| Cloissone Glass. A 19th century experimental technique. |
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| A "conserved" broken lightbulb, which all Erfurt students have to complete at the end of their program. |
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| A wall painting under conservation by the Erfurt students. |
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| Historic wallpaper. |
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| A conserved painted silk fan with ivory ribs and peacock feathers. |
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A small medieval fragment to round out our tour.
We were all very impressed by the Erfurt program and left contemplating ways that we could begin yet another degree program... |
