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Bargain Travel Europe guide to Europe on a budget for unusual destinations,
holiday travel tips and secret spots missed by travel tours.


SWISS


GROSSMÜNSTER CATHEDRAL – ZURICH
The Saints of Zurich and Face of Charlemagne

Grossmunster Chuch Zurich at Night photoCities of the world have their founding symbols; curiously brothers seem to play a role in many. Rome has its Romulus and Remus and Zurich its Felix and Regula. Two brothers who survived the slaughter of their early Christian order by the Romans in what is now the Vallais region of Switzerland in the 3rd Century, escaped to the north along the Limmat River. The lurid legend has it, they were captured and beheaded, but arose to their feet, picked up their decapitated heads and walked 30 paces to the spot where they wanted to be buried. About 600 years later, the Frankish king and later Emperor Charlemagne, an avid hunter if ever there was one, chased a stag all the way from Aachen in Germany to Switzerland and while hot after the elusive deer, his horse stumbled on the tomb of the martyred brothers. It was at this spot, Zurich’s great symbolic cathedral was built (see Charlemagne Cathedral Aachen).

Bell Towers Grossmuenster photoGrossmunster (meaning large or great monastery cathedral), in its current form built around 1100, stands on a hill above the river which divides the Swiss capital city of Zurich, with its unique helmeted twin bell towers iconic symbols of Zurich. The Grossmunster Cathedral’s architecture is primarily Romanesque and notably rather austere in its interior decoration, due to the influence of its place in the reformation. The Grossmuster Cathedral historically is most associated with Ulrich (Hyuldrich) Zwingli, who became the pastor of the Grossmuenster in 1519. Martin Luther had nailed his 99 thesis to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg two years before in 1517 (see Luther’s Church Doors). Zwingli brought the Grossmuenster Cathedral photoreformation to Switzerland, advocating the marriage of priests and the end of fasting for lent. He also objected to the practice of Swiss soldiers hiring out as mercenaries and denounced the artistic symbology of the Catholic Church, removing the adornment of churches. Zwingli’s reforms were furthered by Heinrich Bullinger, the next pastor of Grossmunster who along with Calvin solidified Switzerland’s reformed church, which influenced the Presbyterians and Calvinists who brought their ideas to the American colonies.

King David and the Lions Grossmunster photoWhile most of the cathedral is Romanesque, later Gothic features were added and the bell tower caps are actually an early neo-gothic addition from the 18th Century, added following a fire in 1786. Many of the early paintings inside the church are faded. The best preserved is an image of Christ Arisen surrounded by torture instruments, the meaning of which is open to a couple of interpretations. A number of interesting Romanesque period figures adorn the main portal, a capstone relief of either King David or Orpheus (no-one is sure) with a lyre sits surrounded by lions. The heavy bronze doors of more identifiable sculpted bible stories of the west portal were created in 1950.

King Charlemagne Crypt photoCharlemagne’s (Charles the Great) connection to the Grossmunster legend had been noted by a regal statuary figure of the great king, sitting on a throne, sword in hand, gold crown on his head, high on the west wall from the 15th Century. The king who now sits outside is actually a copy replacing the original, which was suffering damage from exposure. But if you want to stare straight into the face of Charlemagne, the original now resides in the crypt under of the church, where his majesty is obviously more comfortable.

Grossmunster Bronze Door Sculptures photoAnd the curious story of Felix and Regula is not complete. For a few hundred years in medieval times, the relics of the saints were carried in an annual procession across the Limmat River between the competing monasteries of Grossmunster and Fraumunster (now most noted for its Marc Chagall stained glass windows), until Zwingli and his reformation. One story has it that in 1524, Zwingli, not so revered of the relics of Catholic Saints, dug up their tomb and buried a few small bone fragments he found in a common grave. The Catholic version of the story has it that he only found a few fragments because the bones were stolen by a fellow from Uri near Lake Lucerne, who took them to safety. The two skulls of the martyrs can still be seen in a church in Andermatt, though like the mystery of Shroud of Turin their authenticity has been open to question. The remaining bone relics were returned to Zurich in 1950 where they reside in the St Felix and Regula Catholic Church.

Grossmunster and Wasserkirche on the Limmat River photo Below the Grossmünster, on the main street along the Limmat River where the bridge crosses between the former rival monasteries, the Wasserkirche stands on the spot where Felix and Regula were beheaded, with the “Martyr Stone” in the crypt where their execution took place. The figures of Felix and Regula, along with their servant Exuperantius, executed with them, still adorn the coat of arms and seal of the city of Zurich. © Bargain Travel Europe

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SEE ALSO:

SWISS NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM

ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL

BEYER CLOCK & WATCH MUSEUM ZURICH

ZURICH FOR THE HOLIDAYS

ST GALLEN ABBEY BAROQUE LIBRARY & CATHEDRAL

RAPPERSWIL WOONEN BRIDGE ON LAKE ZURICH

ABBEY OF ST MAURICE MARTYRS & TREASURES