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Imperial Abbey of Fraumünster Reichskloster Fraumünster | |||||||||||
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| 853–1524 | |||||||||||
.jpg) The Fraumünster | |||||||||||
| Status | Imperial Abbey | ||||||||||
| Capital | Fraumünster Abbey | ||||||||||
| Common languages | High Alemannic | ||||||||||
| Government | Theocracy | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Founded byLouis the German | 21 July 853 | ||||||||||
1045 | |||||||||||
1218 | |||||||||||
1336 | |||||||||||
30 November 1524 | |||||||||||
• Buildings destroyed | 1898 | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | Switzerland | ||||||||||
TheFraumünster (German pronunciation:[fʁaʊ̯ˈmʏnstɐ]; lit. in English:Women's Minster) is achurch inZurich, Switzerland, which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women and which was founded in 853 byLouis the German for his daughterHildegard. He endowed theBenedictine convent with the lands of Zurich,Uri, and theAlbis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. Today, it belongs to theEvangelical Reformed Church of the canton of Zurich and is one of the four main churches of Zürich, the others being theGrossmünster,Prediger andSt. Peter's churches.
In 1045, KingHenry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.
EmperorFrederick II granted the abbeyReichsunmittelbarkeit in 1218, thus making it territorially independent of all authority save that of the Emperor himself, and increasing the political power of the abbess. The abbess assigned themayor,[1] and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. A famous abbess during this time of great power wasElisabeth of Wetzikon.
However, the political power of the convent slowly waned in the fourteenth century, beginning with the establishment of theZunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 byRudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not assigned by the abbess.
The abbey was dissolved on 30 November 1524 in the course of thereformation ofHuldrych Zwingli, supported by the last abbess,Katharina von Zimmern.
The monastery buildings were destroyed in 1898 to make room for the newStadthaus. The church building today serves as the parish church for one of the city's 34reformed parishes.Münsterhof, historically the main square and marketplace of the medieval city, is named for the abbey.Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster cultivates the traditions of the former nunnery convent.
The choir of the abbey includes 5 large stained glass windows designed by artistMarc Chagall and installed in 1970. Each of the 5 has a dominant color and depicts a Biblical story. From left (northern wall) to right, the 5 works are:
Equally impressive is the 9m tall stained glass of the North transept, created byAugusto Giacometti in 1940.
Since the last renovation in 1900, thecrypt under the choir of the Fraumünster abbey was sealed, and has made public since 19 June 2016. The oldest part of the church preserved the abbey's Holy Relics until theReformation in Zürich banned the Roman Catholic veneration of saints. The foundations of the crypt date back to the 9th century when the abbey was founded. The crypt also comprises an exhibition on the history of theReformation in Zürich, on the architecture and local history, assisted by a multimedia information system that illustrates the foundation fragments of the crypt, and how the church was rebuilt from the original Romanesque construction phase to its present Gothic appearance, on occasion of its establishment guided byDölf Wild, the archaeologist in charge.[2]
For the around 500,000 visitors every year a new developed visitor management started in June 2016. Visitors groups up to 60 persons are admitted from June 20 only by appointment and only in defined time windows. Guided tours are allowed only in a "whisper" modus, and by accredited tour guides,[2] from 10 am to 4 pm in winter, and to 5 pm and 6 pm in spring respectively summer.[3]
With 6,959 pipes, the organ at Fraumünster is the largest in the canton of Zurich.
There have been at least 29 abbesses in the building's history:[4]
In theSwiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance the Fraumünster is listed as aClass A object of national importance.[5]
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47°22′11″N8°32′28″E / 47.36972°N 8.54111°E /47.36972; 8.54111
