page_title: Bamberg Cathedral
section_title: Portals
hierarchical_section_title: Bamberg Cathedral / Description / Sculptures and carvings / Portals
caption_attribution_description: Bamberg-Dom Fürstenportal
context_page_description: Bamberg Cathedral is a church in Bamberg, Germany, completed in the 13th century. The cathedral is under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is the seat of the Archbishop of Bamberg. Since 1993, the cathedral has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Town of Bamberg".
  It was founded in 1002 by King Heinrich II and consecrated in 1012. With the tombs of Henry II and his spouse Cunigunde, the cathedral contains the remains of the only imperial couple that was canonized. With the tomb of Pope Clement II it also contains the only papal grave in Germany, and north of the Alps.
  After the first two cathedrals burned down in the 11th and 12th centuries, the current structure, a late Romanesque building with four large towers, was built in the 13th century.
  The cathedral is about 94 m long, 28 m broad, 26 m high, and the four towers are each about 81 m high. It contains many works of art, including the marble tomb of the founder and his wife, the Empress Kunigunde, considered a masterpiece of the sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider, and carved between 1499 and 1513.
  Another well-known treasure of the cathedral is an equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman.
context_section_description: Numerous carvings ornament the three major portals. The Adamspforte and Marienpforte (or Gnadenpforte) leading into the eastern towers are each guarded by a carved Romanesque lion, a weathered remainder of Heinrich's original cathedral. The former portal sports figures (replicas) of St. Stephen, Kunigunde, Heinrich II, St. Peter and Adam and Eve. The latter is a funnel-shaped portal of the Lombardian style. The tympanum shows Mary, venerated by St. Peter and St. George on one side and by Kunigunde and Heinrich on the other. Figures cowering in the corners are interpreted to be bishop Ekbert (left), a cleric possibly cathedral provost Poppo of Andechs-Merania (right) and a crusader in the centre, maybe based on one "frater Wortwinus", architect of the 1229-31 work.
  The main portal, not in the west as usual due to the two-choir structure of the cathedral but in the centre of the north wall, is called Fürstenportal (princes' portal) and opened only on holy days. It accesses the northern side aisle and was started by late Romanesque artisans (prophets and apostles) but finished by early Gothic workers (Last Judgment in the tympanum). The statues (replicas) topping the columns are Ecclesia and Synagoga (the originals were moved in 1937). There are also statues here of Abraham and the Angel announcing the Last Judgement.
  The Veitspforte is a minor entryway, dating to the early Gothic period. It was inspired by the style the Cistercians had brought from France to southern Germany, as at Ebrach Abbey. The portal gives access to the southern transept.
caption: Fürstenportal
exif: {}