The main portal of Bern Minster: the Last Judgement

Construction of Bern Minster began in 1421. Its large west portal with its porch is still the church's main entrance today. The figures were made by the stonemason Erhart Küng and his workshop, between 1460 and the early 1480s. Later, Küng ran the whole construction of the Minster as master builder.

What you can see

In the large arched field above the two doors, the tympanum, the Archangel Michael stands in the middle with a sword and scales. Angels with trumpets announce the Judgement. On the left, the blessed walk in an orderly procession to the golden gate of heaven, where an angel crowns them. On the right, the damned crowd together, their torments shown graphically. At the very top of the outer arch, Christ sits enthroned as judge of the world, surrounded by Mary, John the Baptist and the twelve apostles. To the left and right of the doors stand the wise and the foolish virgins from the parable in the Bible.

Mary became Justitia

Between the two doors there was originally a figure of the Virgin Mary. After the Reformation, in 1575, it was replaced by a Justitia, the figure of Justice. It is by Daniel Heintz. Otherwise the portal survived the iconoclasm of the Reformation well. Inside the Minster, altars and images were destroyed.

Original or copy?

Over the centuries, damp and polluted air badly damaged the stone. During the restoration from 1964 to 1991, all the large free-standing figures, 47 of them, were therefore replaced by copies. The copies were painted according to the traces of colour on the originals. The originals went to the Bern Historical Museum. The figures in the tympanum, on the other hand, are still the old ones.

Good to know

The portal is on Münsterplatz, a few steps from the Mosesbrunnen. Look closely at the procession of the damned: it is made up of many small scenes. Below Justitia, two craftsmen hold a scroll recalling the laying of the foundation stone in 1421.