Looking Up

Saint on top of Santa Anna chapel in Obernburg

During our trip to Franconia, I was especially struck by the many things you could see while looking up. Even though at Middle Franconia is now protestant, south Germany in general has been catholic for longer and you see saints and other figures tucked away everywhere. Above, a female sent whose name I forgot on top of the Saint Anna chapel in Obernburg. She holds a snake, fairly unusual.

Several Choerlein in Nuernberg

Another Looking Up sight are the many Choerlein, small or large chancels, that are typically found especially in Nuernberg. There's a whole web page devoted to them. The Choerlein were ostensibly used as small chapels starting in the 15th century. However, many of the wealthy merchants used them primarily to show off. Other ornamentation of houses was restricted to the noblemen, so the merchants used the Choerlein as the BMW (or Porsche) of the day.

Once I started looking up, I couldn't stop. Sculptures large and small were everywhere. Some of them old, some of them quite new. 

I should add that this is a city phenomenon - the two-story houses commonly found in small towns or villages don't have sculptures (instead, you can find small altars at various places, especially in southern Germany).

Strangely, the sculptures don't necessarily have a lot to do with the shops that are on the ground floor of the houses - above, a sculpture at the pharmacy house.

And here, a very impressive St. George and the Dragon very close to the Nuernberg castle. Note the little roof above St. George's head. Even in churches the sculptures of saints always have a roof, mere mortals don't get roofs.

As is illustrated also by this beautiful sculpture of (I think) Mary at the second floor level of a store that sells traditional clothing (Trachten) in Nuernberg.

I'll keep looking up - and we'll find that looking up in Berlin, a much younger city, will yield different results.