Limburg / Limburg an der Lahn / Limburg a. d. Lahn

Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Standing permission
Results: 25 records
Apostle or saint - saints? - unidentified
New Testament - public life of Christ - baptism of Christ - in the Jordan - John the Baptist holding his right hand on Christ's head - angel holding clothes
animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon - 2 - intertwined
animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon? - 2
animal - fabulous animal or monster?
animal - fabulous animal or monster?
design element - motifs - floral - fleur-de-lis - inverted
design element - motifs - foliage
human figure - seated - 2 - embracing?
view of base - detail
view of basin - detail
view of basin - detail
view of basin - detail
view of basin - detail
view of church exterior in context - southeast view
view of church exterior in context - southwest view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Roland Meinecke, 2014
Image Source: digital photograph taken 2 April 2014 by Roland Meinecke [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Limburg_an_der_Lahn-Dom_mit_Altstadt_von_Suedwesten-20140402.jpg] [accessed 15 September 2016]
Copyright Instructions: GFDL-1.2 / FAL
view of church interior - nave - looking east
view of church interior - nave - looking west
view of font
view of font
view of font
view of font and cover
view of font and cover
view of font and cover in context
INFORMATION
FontID: 14524LIM
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church/Chapel: Limburger Dom [aka Dompfarrei St. Georg / Georgsdom]
Church Patron Saints: St. George
Church Location: Domplatz, 65549 Limburg an der Lahn, Germany -- Tel.: +49 6431 9297990
Country Name: Germany
Location: Giessen, Hesse
Directions to Site: Located on the A3, in the W of the state
Ecclesiastic Region: Erzbistum Köln
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in a chapel of the S aisle [earlier in the S transept]
Date: ca. 1230?
Century and Period: 13th century (early?), Early Gothic
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Joost Limburg, of www.romanicoportugal.org for his photographs of this font
Church Notes: original church consecrated here between 814 and 847; documents refer to new basilica church built ca. 910 and completed by 940; present building ca. 1180-1190, consecrated 1235;
Font Notes:
Click to view
Noted in Otte's Handbuch der kirchlichen Kunst-Archaologie des deutschen... (v. 1, 1863: 214) and in Lübke (1870). Described and illustrated in Walker (1883): "remarkably fine font [...] unfortunately it has been painted or whitewashed over and over again, and otherwise injured, but enough remains [...] to show that the detail is of great beauty and excellence. The size over the top is fully 4 feet, and the height from the floor 3 feet 6 inches. The basin is octagonal, with a round bowl; the basin is supported in the centre by a square shaft ornamented with grotesque animals, and facing the corners of the octagon are shafts with carved capitals and figure sculpture above; the bases are ornamented in a similar manner with a variety of subjects." Baptismal font consisting of an octagonal basin with rounded underbowl, raised on a broad central shaft and eight outer colonnettes; the sides of the basin are decorated with one scene, the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, and seven male and female figures in different poses at the angles; they may represent saints or other holy persons, none of the haloed; between these figures are foliage and animal decorations, one of which is of a pair of dragons, their coiled tails intertwined; the underbowl has an inverted fleur-de-lis motif on each side, between the large foliated capitals that belong to the outer columns of the base; the base itself consists of a central broad polygonal shaft decorated with animals [felines?], and eight columns at the outer angles with large foliated capitals on the underbowl; these columns are populated with a number of human figures and fabulous monsters; plain square bases; the octagonal lower base or plinth appears modern. The font cover is an octagonal pillbox-like top on a wider circular platform decorated with a wavy pattern with some animals on its upper surface; the upper octagonal part has two levels of panels, up and down, each decorated with a large symbol (Sun, fruit and birds, naked human figure and snake, etc.); two of the double panels are hinged and open to give access to the basin interior and the holy water therein; this font cover fits in a rounded groove at the top the basin, but there are lead plugs in the upper rim from an earlier font cover.
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 50.388889, 8.066667
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 50° 23′ 20″ N, 8° 4′ 0″ E
UTM: 32U 433652 5582287
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, sandstone
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Font Height (less Plinth): 105 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [in feet/inches in Walker (1883)]
REFERENCES
Lübke, Wilhelm, Ecclesiastical in Gemany during the Middle Ages [tranl. by L. A. Wheatley], London: Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, 1870
Walker, J. Russell, "Notes on Continental Churches", (1883), Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1883, pp. 49-75; p. 59-71, fig. 1