NetMAR Concluding Conference on Monday, 04 December 2023
November 1, 2023NetMAR Formally Concluded During a Well-Attended Conference on 04 December 2023
December 13, 2023
Following the Footsteps of Jesus: Bamberg’s Late Medieval Stations of the Cross
By Florian Abe, Tucher Kulturstiftung / Freie Universität Berlin
Fig. 1: Bamberg Stations of the Cross, Station 3, Symon helps Jesus carry his Cross. Source: Florian Abe
When strolling up a hill to visit a chapel with a picturesque view on vacation, you might have come across those small shrines along the way containing images depicting the Passion of Jesus. Since the Baroque period and continuing to this day, countless Stations of the Cross like these have been erected worldwide, especially in Catholic regions. However, their origins can be traced back to the late fifteenth century. What distinguishes the late medieval versions is their unique arrangement: unlike their later counterparts, these Stations were not haphazardly placed. Instead, many claimed to replicate the exact distances between the Stations along Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa. Often, these Stations had inscriptions detailing the number of steps to their starting point. During this time, pilgrimage to the Holy Land was also flourishing. Pilgrims meticulously measured not only famous sites like the Holy Sepulchre but also the distances between them. This act was considered both a pious endeavor and a means to create ‘metric relics’ – measurements that could be applied to the local environment.
As historical records show, late medieval Stations of the Cross gained rapid popularity and could be found in many cities, both large and small, across the Holy Roman Empire. Due to their placement mostly in open, public spaces, they were susceptible to the elements and, notably, vandalism, even during the early modern period. Consequently, only around two handful of these late medieval Stations of the Cross have left visible traces in their original locations.
Today, the best-preserved Stations of the Cross can be found in Bamberg, a city in the Franconia region of Germany, dating back to around 1500. This ensemble offers a glimpse into the original complexity of these multimedia installations, their integration into the urban environment, and the surrounding landscape. Let’s explore how these late medieval Stations of the Cross allowed visitors to figuratively follow in the footsteps of Christ.
The Bamberg Stations of the Cross consist of six stone-carved Bildstöcke, image pillars adorned with reliefs depicting scenes from the Passion of Jesus. The Way begins at St. Elizabeth Church, near the city wall, with a Station labeled “House of Pilate”, portraying Jesus picking up the Cross. Four more Stations with similar designs line Aufseßstraße, culminating in the final Bildstock depicting Jesus’ fall further uphill on Michaelsberg in St.-Getreu-Straße. Each of these image pillars shares a common design, resembling shrine-like structures, with varying roofs. One side features a relief depicting a specific episode from the Passion associated with the Via Dolorosa and Christ bearing the Cross. Beneath the image, an inscription provides the subject and the distance from the starting point, the House of Pilate, in the number of steps. For example, the inscription on the third Station reads: “Here Symon is being forced to help Christ carry his Cross. 185 steps from Pilate’s house”. (“Hir wird Symon gezwungen Cristo sein kreutz helfen tragen. iic lxxxxv. schrit von pilatus haws”) [Fig. 1].
Fig. 2: St. Getreu Chapel with the final Bildstock integrated into a wall on the right and the Calvary group by the door left to the center. Pen and ink drawing by Johann Georg Endres, 1798. Source: Die Kunstdenkmäler von Bayern / edited by Bayerischen Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. Stadt Bamberg: 3: Immunitäten der Bergstadt, Viertelband 4: Michelsberg und Abtsberg / by Tilmann Breuer, Reinhard Gutbier und Peter Ruderich, p. 493.
By beginning the inscription with “here” it not only identifies the scene but also connects the referenced image space with the reader’s and the Station’s location in Bamberg, where visitors read this very sentence. The steps serve as a link between the body of Christ and the visitor, creating an intimate connection between the Passion events and the contemporary devotee. Listing precise distances served not only as a subject for contemplation but also an invitation for physical reenactment.
In addition to the six Bildstöcke, the Bamberg Stations include two groups of sculptures carved in the round: one Calvary and one entombment group. Originally, the Calvary stood outside St. Getreu Chapel, near the final image pillar on Bamberg’s Michaelsberg, but in the nineteenth century, it was relocated inside the chapel. The entombment group, however, remained in its original location, although the surrounding landscape has significantly changed. The church underwent extensive Baroque reconstruction, and the chapel with the entombment group was transformed into a cave-like grotto around 1900. [Fig. 2]
Fig. 3: Friedrich Carl Rupprecht, The Chapel of Saint Elizabeth with the first Station and the Sandtor, Bamberg, 1815. Source: Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, The Muriel and Philip Berman Gift, acquired from the John S. Phillips bequest of 1876 to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with funds contributed by Muriel and Philip Berman, gifts (by exchange) of Lisa Norris Elkins, Bryant W. Langston, Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, with additional funds contributed by John Howard McFadden, Jr., Thomas Skelton Harrison, and the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, 1985. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Despite the alterations in the surroundings of these sculptures, the immersive media strategy of the Bamberg ensemble can still be traced: it transitioned from relatively two-dimensional reliefs to sculptures carved in the round and ultimately to a furnished architectural interior. Visitors physically retraced the distances, viewed the images on the pillars, engaged with almost life-sized sculptures, and entered an architectural space that effectively stood in for the Holy Sepulchre. This allowed visitors to witness the Passion events within an authentic topography.
The Bamberg Passion topography isn’t solely constituted by the interplay between artworks and rituals — the newly installed Bildstöcke and sculptures and visitors walking from one to the next to commemorate the Passion events. Similar to many contemporary ensembles, the Bamberg Stations integrated existing architectural structures and natural features to offer a more immersive experience of the Passion topography. Some of these elements can only be traced through secondary sources like historical images or texts. For instance, the church of St. Getreu in Bamberg still stands, albeit significantly altered, and originally housed the final Station of the entombment, symbolising the Holy Sepulchre. However, an element lost over time is the Sandtor, one of Bamberg’s city gates near the first Station at St. Elizabeth Church. [Fig. 3]
Many Stations of the Cross, including those in Nuremberg and Görlitz, incorporated city gates representing Jerusalem’s Lion’s Gate (also known as St. Stephen’s Gate), where the Via Dolorosa begins. Reflecting this spatial arrangement in Bamberg pays homage to the belief that Golgotha, the site of crucifixions, must have been located outside the historic Jerusalem city walls. This notion is echoed by the placement of St. Getreu’s church on Bamberg’s Michaelsberg, west of the city’s new fortification from around 1450. Similar landscape features connected Bamberg’s Calvary and entombment with Jerusalem’s Golgotha. There’s record that in some cities lacking natural hills, like Lübeck, even an artificial mound could be raised to install a Calvary as the cycle’s final Station.
An engraving from around 1700 depicting the Görlitz Stations of the Cross provides insight into the interplay of arts and rituals in these ensembles. [Fig. 4] The image showcases various episodes from the Passion, with Jesus carrying his Cross through the contemporary city of Görlitz. St. Peter’s and Paul’s church is depicted as the House of Pilate, as inscribed in the engraving itself. The Way uphill towards the Holy Sepulchre, an exact replica of the Jerusalem original, features two small wayside shrines and existing buildings, creating an almost theatrical scene. Visitors of the ensemble could engage their imagination, envisioning the vivid scenes shown in the image by physically retracing the Stations. In the Bamberg Stations of the Cross, though not entirely preserved, these intricate interactions within a sophisticated Passion topography can still be experienced on-site today.
Fig. 4: “Abbildung der Ausführung Christi zu seinem Schmerz Leiden, nebst Vorstellung des so gennanten Heiligen Grabes und der Kreuzkirche in Görlitz 1719”, depicts the Görlitz Stations of the Cross with scenes of Jesus carrying the Cross through the city. Source: Wikicommons, Ralf Roletschek
