Here are some more photos I took in the Magdeburg Cathedral along with additional information. I’ve put this post in an extended entry. First is the text explaining the photos, then the photos following. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Please know that all the photos are in lower resolution than the original, but if you click on the screen shot you’ll get a better and larger photo behind it. I hope they don’t make you as sad as the young lady to the left!

Warning: dial up users may experience significant download times. So, click through at your own risk. Ye be warned! 

A common feature of the great cathedrals in
Europe is a depiction of the wise and foolish virgins (Matt. 25) usually put over
one of the main entrances to the cathedral. I saw them at every major
church I visited in Germany. The statues of the wise and foolish
virgins were made in 1250 by an unknown sculptor and placed in their
present location when the "Paradise Portal" was completed around 1300
or so. The unknown artist who created these sculptures is widely
acknowledged to be the greatest sculptor in the Middle Ages, rivaling
later Rennaissance artists He was able to sculpt intense emotion. The
full range of joy and sorrow is depicted in his work on the virgins.
There are five wise and five foolish virgins. When I was there, several
of the statues had been taken down for repair or restoration, I
presume. The images here are low-res for Internet purposes. Click on
them for better quality.This next photo is of the wise virgins on display. Note the various
expressions of deep joy on their faces and that the wise virgins are
holding their lamps carefully, while the foolish are holding their’s
down, obviously without oil in them. Truly wonderful sculpture, no?

The next photo is particularly interesting. It is a photo of the
tympanum over the doorway into the cathedral from the Paradise Portal.
The sculpture here depicts the assumption of the Virgin Mary, the
legend that Mary was taken bodily into heaven when she died, rather
than suffer physical decay. This work was completed around 1310. I
should note that the pervasive anti-semitism of the Middle Ages is
depicted it the tympanum opposite this image, a depiction of "Ecclesia
and Synagogue." I could not get a photo of it because it was covered
over with repair scaffolding. Note the lower quality of the sculpture,
at least in contrast to the amazing work on the wise and foolish
virgins. But there is something here also worth noting. The Calvinists
when they took over Roman Cathedral cathedrals would tear down the
statues, destroy the scultprure and rip out visual arts. One might
think that Lutherans would have torn out a depiction of what is clearly
an extra-Biblical theme, but they did not. Why? Because Lutherans
historically did not demonstrate the level of "Roma-phobia," as I call
it, that we see today. Let me explain. The Assumption of the Virgin is
an old, pious legend/myth that was unfortunately dogmatized by the Pope
only in the 19th century, but it was never renounced by Lutheranism,
but simply deemphasized in favor of what is known with certainty from
Holy Scripture, but Lutherans did not set out to scandalize the simple
laity who had always been taught that Mary was assumed bodily into
heaven, rather than suffer physical decay. If somebody wanted to
continue to believe that, as long as with it there was no confusion
about our salvation or the role of Mary, that was all well and good.
Yet another interesting, and dramatic example of the anti-iconoclastic
nature of the true evangelical Reformation, as opposed to the
legalistic iconoclasm of the Reformed Church. Now let me be clear. I don’t want anyone posting what I’ve now come to expect whenever I talk about this: "Are you saying if we don’t use decorations like this we aren’t Lutheran? Are you saying people who don’t like this kind of art aren’t Lutheran? Are you saying we have to use art like this to be Lutheran?" No. No and No! I have to admit I grow more than a bit weary of such absurd comments.

But, the point I want to make clear is that there is nothing "Lutheran" about *not* using fine art and visual images. I know one dear Lutheran man who truly believes crucifixes are not "Lutheran" and he is impervious to all the facts that contradict this erroneous notion, including the many examples that show that Lutherans never rejected the crucifix or other visual arts. Some Lutherans think that "plain" is somehow more "spiritual" and sadly they do not realize that such a view is not Lutheran at all, nor even Biblical, but simply something that comes from generic Reformed Protestantism. There was nothing "plain" or "simple" about the Old Testament tabernacle and temple worship. We know that the first Christians, as soon as they could, were painting every surface they possibly could with all kinds of beautiful images and decorations. "Simple" and "plain" may be just fine for the Amish and Calvinists and Pietists, but there is nothing "Lutheran" about it. Somebody needs to get the seminary in Fort Wayne to put up huge paintings on those painfully bland wall spaces! <g>

Of course only very few churches could ever afford to feature art as beautiful as is found in places like Magdeburg. But the point simply is that anyone who thinks building huge barn-like stark non-denominational looking "worship centers" with stages instead of chancels and altars can not appeal to anything in the Lutheran church’s history, doctrine or practice to justify such things.

This next photo is the cathedral’s chancel. The screen you see is
there to catch pieces of the cathedral vaulting and ceiling that will
occasionally fall. The tomb you see in the foreground is that of Otto
the Great. The first cathedral on this location was built in 955 and
when Otto died in 973 he was buried next to his wife. Then the "new"
cathedral was completed in the early 13th century, Otto’s wooden casket
was put into the limestone tomb you see now, and covered with a slab of
Roman marble. He has been here ever since. He succeeded Constantine.

Another striking thing one finds in the Magdeburg Cathedral is the
oldest known depiction of an African in Germany, and for that matter,
in Europe. It is a statue of St. Maurice, to whom Otto dedicated the
first cathedral he built on this location in the 10th century. Maurice
was a third century Roman military officer and Christian martyr who
refused to persecute Christians and make a sacrifice to Roman gods as
ordered by the Roman emperor. He was therefore killed by the Romans.
Otto took a special liking to Maurice as a child when his father
received relics of the saint and also what was said to be Maurice’s
lance. Here is a photo of the statue of Maurice that stands in the
chancel. At some point it was damaged and so is no longer a complete
statue.

So,
what did the Lutherans add to the cathedral? Well, other than orthodox
evangelical Biblical truth…not a whole lot, except for…a pulpit,
which is itself a powerful confession of the reality of one of the key
breakthroughs of the Reformation, a return to the powerful and living
Word of God that is proclaimed. And so the Lutherans put a stunning
pulpit into the cathedral. It is one of the most beautiful works from
the late Renaissance in Germany. The sculpture, Christoph Kapup, from
Nordhausen, made it between 1595-1597. It is made of alabaster and
hopefully you can zoom in on the photo below to study it in a bit more
detail. Kapup was kept busy at the cathedral making incredibly
beautiful and ornate commemorative statuary for the Lutheran cathedral
canons. Ironically, they are the most gaudy and ornate pieces of art in
the cathedral, again, shattering yet another myth about Lutheranism,
that it doesn’t go in for anything too fancy in a church building! Here is the pulpit. I’ve digitally adjusted the image a bit to try to bring out more color in the alabaster.

Let’s talk a bit first about when and how the cathedral
became Lutheran. This cathedral was the bastion of Roman Catholicism in
Germany up to the time of the Lutheran Reformation. It was the seat of
none other than Albrecht, the one who had to find a way to pay for his
multiple church hats and so worked out a deal with the Pope to sell
indulgences to he could pay off his debt to the Vatican for the special
dispensation granted by which he could hold multiple positions, the
Pope in turn received money for the work he was doing on St. Peter and
Paul in Rome. And everyone was happy. But not Luther. And you know the
rest of that particular story. Well, back to the cathedral. This is no
ordinary cathedral [are any?]. This cathedral was intended to be the
crown jewel of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It was completed
in 1363 and was dedicated with week long festivities. The main altar,
one of the largest in the world, was dedicated along with intricately
carved wooden choir stalls in the chancel. I’ll show you a sample of
the carving later. Archbishops continued to add their own personal
touch to the cathedral, adding an elaborate sculpted rood screen
between 1445-1451, definitively separating the laity from the high
altar! The building as it stands now was finally entirely completed in
1477 – a construction period of nearly 200 years, just in time for the
Reformation!

As an Augustinian Vicar for the Augustinian cloisters in the area,
Luther had been to Magdeburg on several official visits. He was back in
1524 again and preached in St. John’s Church and soon after the city
was converted to Lutheranism. However, the cathedral was not. Cardinal
Albrecht von Brandenburg, who was also an Archbishop of Mainz and an
Elector and prince of this and that territory was none too pleased with
the goings on in Magdeburg. He was deeply in debt as a result of his
hobby of collecting ecclesiastical and secular offices and worked hard
at one of the most successful fund raising schemes in the history of
the church: the sale of indulgences. Until Albrecht’s death in 1546,
the cathedral chapter remained firmly opposed to the Reformation. The
cathedral’s relics and other movable treasures were taken away to Halle
where they were thought to be safely stored away. Justas Jonas’,
Luther’s great friend and colleague, brought the Reformation to Halle
and the Magdeburg cathedral treasures were again hauled out of Halle
and Archbishop Albrecht had to leave Halle, where he had taken refuge
when Magdeburg became Lutheran. Ironically, the Swedes stole all the
treasures during the Thirty Years War after the death of Gustavus
Adolphus, who forbid such looting.

Well, after Albrecht’s death in 1546, the year Luther died as well,
the cathedral chapter in Magdeburg fell apart. There was no new Roman
Catholic Archbishop who took office and the city council closed the
cathedral. But then the remaining younger canons converted to
Lutheranism and on the first Sunday in Advent, 1567, the first Lutheran
Divine Service, with a sermon [!] was held in the cathedral. During the
Schmalkald War in 1547 Magdeburg was attacked often but held firm.
Unfortunately, duing the the thirty years war, on May 10, 1631, the
imperial troops of the Catholic league under General Tilly entered the
city. After crushing the last resistance, the city was put to the torch
and in a few hours completely destroyed. 30,000 residents were killed.
One large group of citizens took refuge in the cathedral, some 4,000
people, mainly women and children. The chief pastor of the cathedral,
Dr. Reinhard Bake literally got on his knees and begged for mercy from
General Tilly, who spared the lives of those who had taken refuge in
the cathedral. The cathedral was rededicated as a Roman Catholic
church, but then when the Imperial troops retreated before the Swedes,
the cathedral was looted and much of the damage one sees today on
various pieces of sculpture was inflicted by the Swedes, themselves
Lutheran! But by this time they were exacting revenge for the death of
their beloved Gustavus Adolphus and punishing the Germans for acts of
treachery against them, after they had come to rescue Germany from
Imperial Roman Catholic armies. The cathedral was stripped and
destroyed and the stained glass was shot out.

For the photo bugs out there, the shots of the Virgins were all taken with a Canon 5d, ISO 400, 15th of a second, hand held, nicely demonstrating the ability of the 24-105 L’s image stabilization ability! I would also here put in a good word for Grapic Converter which is truly one of the finest shareware programs out there. I hit "auto level correct" and voila, contrast and brightness was instantly enhanced! So much to learn in the world of digital photography, which gives me so much more control over the final image than I ever had when shooting and developing film I can hardly comprehend it.