There is something infectious about a person who displays a real passion for a subject. You find yourself getting drawn in, even if your own interest, up to that point, was only superficial. Such a person is Alex Hansen.
Near Zurich’s Fraumünster is a passageway, part modern and part utilising the former cloisters of the abbey church. Its walls are lined with frescoes by local artist Paul Bodmer. These were painted between 1924 and 1934 and tell stories from the history of the city.
I stopped here one morning while exploring the city with my friend Yvonne. We were intrigued by the paintings and started to discuss between us what each might depict. A man standing nearby overheard our conversation. He approached us and offered to tell us more about the pictures, an offer which we accepted; and when he said more, he meant more!
Alex Hansen has clearly made it his life’s work to study them in depth. He told us he has even written a thesis about them. And so for the next 45 minutes or so he described not only the stories told by the pictures but also many of his own theories about the artist’s use of symbolism within them.
What he told us of the stories recounted in these frescoes matches what I have since read online.
Felix and Regula
One set tells the story of the city’s patron saints, Felix and Regula. They were brother and sister, early Christians who fled to Zurich with their servant, Exuperantius, to escape persecution by the Romans. However, they found no sanctuary here and were executed by decapitation. Legend has it that this took place on the site of what is today the Wasserkirche, on the banks of the Limmat. But the martyrs picked up their heads and walked from there to a spot forty steps up the hill. There they prayed before finally collapsing in death. They were buried where they fell and the Grossmünster was built on their graves, to honour them, becoming a place of pilgrimage.
They are carrying their own heads and are supported by angels, each with a dove
Incidentally, my friend Don has reminded me that there is a special name for a saint who is beheaded but then picks up his or her head and walks away with it – a cephalophore. Do check out his post about Saint Denis for more about the phenomenon!
Hildegard and Bertha
The other main set of frescoes tells of the founding of the convent, of which the Fraumünster was the abbey church, by two sisters, Hildegard and Bertha. They were the daughters of Louis the German, the first king of East Francia, and lived in nearby Baldern Castle. According to legend the two sisters, who were very pious, used to visit the city to worship before the relics of Saints Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius at Grossmünster Cathedral.
One morning they saw a white stag with glowing antlers in the middle of the dark forest. They followed the stag, which brought them to a spot on the banks of the Limmat River directly across from the Grossmünster. This happened each morning; and eventually the sisters understood that God had given them a sign that a convent should be built at this spot. Their father was reluctant to agree at first; but then a rope fell from heaven to mark exactly where the building should be sited, and he agreed. He and his daughters thus oversaw the construction of Fraumünster Church; and the two women became the first abbesses.
The remaining images, in the section nearest the river, relate tales of Charlemagne, but our new acquaintance had less to say about these. His thesis, if indeed he has ever written it, seems to be unpublished, and I’ve found no other references to any kind of symbolism here. I have forgotten most of his theories, which were somewhat convoluted, but not his infectious enthusiasm for his subject.
That’s why he’s just one person from around the world who has stuck in my memory.
I visited Zurich in 2017 as part of a Virtual Tourist Euromeet
10 Comments
margaret21
Chance encounters like this can be so enriching … or an utter pain. So glad it was the former in your case.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret 🙂 Enriching, yes, but it veered towards pain as the conversation went on, as his theories about the symbolism became more complicated and we were conscious we had a train to catch and wanted to see a bit more of this part of the city before leaving!
CadyLuck Leedy
Passing crossroads with a person like this is meant to be! How very interesting and exuberant Alex Hansen must have been! Aren’t these frescoes beautiful! I would now like to know more about Paul Bodmer! I would have stayed all day and Alex would have been tired of me!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Cady. There is only a one line entry about Bodmar in wikipedia – ‘Paul Bodmer (1886–1983) was a Swiss painter’ 🙂 But you can find more of his works by doing an image search, although this seems to have been by far his most significant 🙂
We might have stayed longer but this was our last morning in the city and we were meeting the rest of our friends at the station at midday to take a train to Kempten for the main Euromeet 🙂
Nemorino
Great to run into such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person. I don’t think I have ever seen these frescos in Zürich, and I didn’t know Felix and Regula were cephalophores.
Nearly three years ago you left a comment on my post about this phenomenon: https://operasandcycling.com/the-cephalophore/ .
Sarah Wilkie
You have a great memory Don! Now I’ve revisited your page I remember it well, including your amusing mention of why St Denis didn’t use a map (I bet Felix and Regula didn’t either btw)! But I’d forgotten until this point. I’m going to edit this to mention cephalophores and link to your post 🙂
Nemorino
Sarah, thanks for adding the link to my Saint-Denis post.
Sarah Wilkie
You’re welcome – you have loads of good info there 🙂 And thank you for reminding me about it!
restlessjo
Yes, definitely something about enthusiasm that draws you in. He has himself a great subject there and you can see the enthusiasm written all over him. 🙂 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Indeed 🙂 At the time we thought it was a serendipitous encounter but on reflection afterwards I started to suspect that he spends much of his day there (he told us he was retired) hoping to find visitors interested enough to want to listen to his stories and theories!