Chagall

Marc Chagall designed five large stained glass windows installed in the choir of the church (1970) and a rose window in the southern transept (1978).

A pictorial symphony of biblical images

Marc Chagall completed the multifaceted stained glass windows for the choir of Fraumünsters in 1970. Eight years later, he added the rose window in the transept, that depicts the the stages of Genesis and in the center Noah's Ark, symbolising the salvation of creation. The windows arose from a collaboration with glass painter Charles Marq in Reims.

Window of the prophets

Elijah is being carried away in a fiery horse-drawn chariot to the sky, away from Elisha. The angel Cherub hovers in the middle. Above, Jeremiah is sitting immersed in thought in a blue gown. In the round arch, the Creation is depicted.

Window of Jacob

Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites, hovers with eyes open and hands folded on his lap. He dreams of the ladder leading to heaven, which makes up the upper part of the window. Jacob’s tussle with the angel is shown directly below.

Window of Christ

The life of Christ, from birth to resurrection: Joseph, the family tree of Jesse, the Lamb of God, Mary, Elizabeth, the life and parables of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion, among other aspects.

Window of Zion

An angel announces the beginning of eternity. Below, the new Jerusalem descends from heaven. King David singing psalms and Bathsheba are shown at the bottom.

Window of the Commandments

Moses holds the tablets inscribed with the commandments and observes the disobedience and suffering of humanity. The middle section depicts absolute peace. Beneath, Isaiah is held by an angel. He prepares to spread his message of peace to the world.

Creation

Only two decades after the installation of the Giacometti windows, a number of favourable conditions made it possible to retain Marc Chagall (1887–1985), the artist behind the world-famous stained glass windows in a synagogue in Jerusalem, to design the stained glass windows in the newly restored choir.

Peter Vogelsanger, Fraumünster parish priest at the time, and the benefactors Lou and Heinrich Hatt-Bucher were the driving force behind the endeavour.  The result of this courageous request is a unique, highly spiritual work of art that is extremely colourful and expressive. Five narrow, 50 m2 high stained glass windows were crafted in collaboration with a traditional glass painting studio in Reims and its director, Charles Marq (1923–2006).

The biblical images express the path of persons to God, of encounters of two worlds on this path and of the goal, to which we strive.

Quelle: Irmgard Vogelsanger-de Roche. In: Das Fraumünster in Zürich. Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte GSK, Bern 2018.