Concealed behind the chapel grill, this chapel was donated by Jakob Heimhofer († 1514), a financial adviser to Maximilian I. Nowadays, the chapel at the northern end of the ambulatory is the only chapel in which services are still celebrated today due to later remodelling.
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Jakob Heimhofer
Although Jakob Heimhofer was a respected servant of Emperor Maximilian, surprisingly little is known about him. He came from Baden-Baden and enrolled at the University of Freiburg in 1489. It is not known when he entered the imperial service.
From 1529 to 1678, after the cathedral chapter of Basel, Switzerland, fled from the Reformation, this chapel served as its vestry, resulting in its byname ‘Alte Basler Sakristei’ (the old Basel vestry), before it was used as a storage room.
The Tegginger altarpiece
Since 1909, the Heimhofer Chapel has been home to the Tegginger altarpiece painting. Markus Tegginger, the auxiliary Bishop of Basel and Professor of theology in Freiburg, donated the altarpiece in 1593 for his sepulchre in the Schnewlin Chapel, where today only his grave slab remains. At the bottom of the altarpiece painting (Hans Baer, 1604), the donor kneels in front of a depiction of the Resurrection of Lazarus.
The antependium of the former altar was attached to the dividing wall that separates the high choir. In addition to Tegginger's coat of arms, it depicts the four evangelists with their respective symbols. They are gathered around a medallion on which Psalm 124 "Our help is in the name of the Lord" can be read.
The chapel in possession of the Herder family
Thanks to the foundation established by the Freiburg publisher Hermann Herder († 1937), the chapel was refurbished and given a new chapel grille in 1909. Further changes were made in 1996, when it was redesigned into a small room for church services. Since then, the grille separates the chapel along with its ambulatory from the rest of the chancel.
The grille
Above the gate in the grille, two angels present the Herder family coat of arms; the Arma Christi are spread across the grille on seven smaller escutcheons.
Coat of arms of the Flagellation of Christ and Arma Christi.
Coat of arms with medieval weapons.
Coat of arms with crown of thorns and two reeds.
Coat of arms with three nails, lance and a sponge soaked in vinegar.
Coat of arms with the holy skirt of Jesus and the three cubes.
Coat of arms with the veil of St Veronica.
Further items
Sandstone epitaph for Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Knecht.
The chapel features a sandstone epitaph for Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Knecht. From 1839 until his death, he was Auxiliary Bishop of Freiburg Minster. A detailed biography of the deceased can be read below the epitaph.
A copy of the miraculous image of Mary Help of Christians by the painter Lucas Cranach the Elder hangs on the window wall. The picture shows the original by Cranach, which has been on display in the high altar of Innsbruck Cathedral since 1650.
The painted bosses
On the boss in the former ambulatory, St Veronica stands between two empty black escutcheons holding the veil that bears the likeness of Christ’s face.
The Minster’s patron Mary is depicted together with the Christ child on the boss in the chapel, beneath which an empty escutcheon is visible.
Tegginger in Freiburg
The House "Zum Guldin Stauf"
Tegginger's former house "Zum Guldin Stauf" at Herrenstraße 15 is located very close to the cathedral. Tegginger's coat of arms is framed by two figures and crowned with a mitre on the relief in the bay window of the house. As a result of the remodelling work carried out by Freiburg's senior building director Joseph Schlippe after the Second World War, which severely interfered with the historical building stock, the upper floors of the buildings in the entire Herrenstraße were demolished, including those of the house "Zum Guldin Stauf".
