St. Victor's Cathedral, Xanten

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 12 April 2008 in Architecture.

This is the Gothic cathedral situated in Xanten we were visiting in the last days. What we can't see here is the High Altar, because it is hidden behind the rood screen*. Rood sceens were used to divide the altar area from the nave of a church, thus separating the sanctuary from the congregation. They lost their function with the resolutions of the Council of Trent (between 1545 and 1563) with its revised liturgy. The construction time of the Xantener Dom was from 1263 to 1544.

* I didn't know the term "rood screen" before writing this post. In German, it's a Lettner. You live and learn.

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Comments (10)

Michael from Wuppertal, Germany

Wieder mal ein klasse Bild!
Vielleicht wirds jetzt doch langsam Zeit für hdr? ;-)

12 Apr 2008 6:28pm

@Michael: Immerhin bin ich jetzt schon mal von JPEG auf RAW gewechselt! Muß mal gucken, was es für'n Mac noch so alles gibt... :-)

lightwriter from oosterwolde, Netherlands

This is breathtaking. And i am not even there. Thanks!

12 Apr 2008 6:52pm

@lightwriter: You're welcome :-)

Evelyne Dubos from Le Mans, France

Great perspective. I like colors of pillar also.

12 Apr 2008 8:49pm

@Evelyne Dubos: Should be the original colour of these pillars, because reconstruction after the war was very strict.

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

It all seems to come to a point at the top.

12 Apr 2008 9:18pm

@JoeB: The crucifix behind the rood screen is the focal point - simple and effective :)

Alun Lambert from cheshire, United Kingdom

Great image

12 Apr 2008 9:52pm

@Alun Lambert: Thanks, Alun, glad you like it :)

Laurie from New Jersey, United States

Beautiful and impressive. I never knew about the rood screen either, interesting.

13 Apr 2008 1:35am

@Laurie: They are rather seldom here too. Most of them were removed (fortunately, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see the high altars) or were not built at all if the church was erected after 1600.

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

Is the purple color part of the stone or a product of the lighting?

14 Apr 2008 2:54pm

@Twelvebit: Actually they are light grey, but behind the viewer is a big stained glass window with lots of red disks. The light was coming from behind, so the whole room was filled with that colourful light. I didn't change any colours :-)

Emilio Garcia from Pleasanton, United States

Excellent shot. The color of the pillars don't look real. Is that their true color?

14 Apr 2008 6:16pm

@Emilio Garcia: Thanks, Emilio! Have a look at my response to Twelvebit's comment: behind me was a big, red stained glass window the light was coming through.

Brites from Lisboa, Portugal

Very good interior!

15 Apr 2008 8:29pm

@Brites: These folks love their cathedral. Soon after the war all damages were repaired.

Japanalia from Yokohama, Japan

This is very sober and the architecture has that crushing feeling......it makes you feel small, a piece of nothing! I had this feeling only in Catholic & Protestant cathedrals, never in Orthodox churches.

8 Jul 2008 12:23pm

@Japanalia: That's no wonder that you never felt that in Orthodox churches, because they always had a fix position in society and always were part of the government (as state church, this is also true for some protestant churches as the Norwegian church and the church of England). This kind of protection was not given for the catholic church (at least not in all countries), where struggle for hegemony between the Pope and the kings was permanent.

But St. Victor is a nice, rather small cathedral with lots of artworks you could see here :-)

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