The chapel's construction contract was concluded between the city and the University in 1505.
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The chapel was not consecrated until 1554 as it took several years for it to be completed. Until 1789 it served as a burial place for university professors. A total of eight graves were available for burials inside and in front of the chapel. The two gravestones in the chapel and one in front of the chapel grille still exist today. The university and Freiburg Minster are closely linked: the university held the Minster parish from 1464 to 1813 and provided the Minster priest. Numerous university events were held in the cathedral: These included opening ceremonies, graduation ceremonies and the annual reading of the university statutes.
The painted bosses
The boss in the ambulatory features the patron saint of the university, Saint Jerome, surrounded by the three coats of arms.
The boss in the chapel with the twelve-year-old Christ the teacher, surrounded by the three coats of arms.
Stained-Glass Windows
The bottom stained-glass windows, made between 1524 and 1527 and heavily painted over in 1874. In 1886, additional stained-glass windows were donated from the estate of Professor Karl Julius Perleb (†1845) and were installed in the left window frame above the medieval stained-glass windows.
The more recent windows show St Jerome on the left and the University’s founder, Archduke Albert VI († 1463), on the right.
Window showing Christ the teacher.
The patron saints of the University’s faculties: Luke the Evangelist (medicine), St Catherine (philosophy), John the Apostle (theology) and St Ives (law).
The Oberried altarpiece
The Centre Panels
The centre panels of the Oberried altarpiece were made around 1525/26 by Hans Holbein the Younger for the Basel merchant and councillor Hans Oberried. The donor is kneeling together with his family in front of The Birth of Christ (left) and The Adoration of the Magi (right).
Closed Altarpiece
Oberried presumably brought the panels to Freiburg in 1529 himself after he was forced to leave Basel due to the Reformation. The paintings, which were donated to the University by one of Oberried’s descendants, were made the centrepiece of a new altarpiece to which wings were added portraying the Four Fathers of the Church.
A gallery of epitaphs and memorial plaques
Epitaph for Christoph Eliner († 1575), professor of theology. It depicts the vision of the prophet Ezekiel: In his vision, the prophet is commanded to carry a prophecy. As he's standing in a valley full of dry human bones, the bones connect back into human figures, covered with flesh and skin – God reveals the dead as the people of Israelites and commands the prophet to to revitalize these human figures, to resurrect them and to bring them to the Holy Land.
Epitaph for Jacob Christoph Helbling von Hirzfeld und zu Buchholz († 1719), professor of theology and cathedral priest.
Epitaph for Heinrich Glarean († 1563), professor of poetics. His portrait in the scholar's talenar can be seen in the medallion.
Epitaph for Theobald Bapst († 1564), professor of law. At the top, he can be recognised in a portrait on the painted medallion; below, a coat of arms with the papal tiara is presented with ornamental tendrils.
The epitaphs on the wall of the high choir also belongs to the university chapel. The upper, larger epitaph commemorates the poet and humanist Heinrich Glarean († 1563), who died in Freiburg. The smaller memorial plaque commemorates the professor of Greek and Hebrew, Johannes Hartung († 1579).
Commemorative plaque for Theobald Hening († 1651), Abbot of Saint-Jean du Jard near Melun. His extensive endowment from 1630 made it possible to financially support four students each year.
Epitaph for Georg Maier († 1609), professor of medicine. The epitaph is crowned with a scene of the professor in prayer before the crucified Christ. Painted putti sit next to him on the Renaissance architecture and turn towards each other.
Epitaph for Gallus Streitsteimer († 1595), professor of medicine. Depicted is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Ulrich Zasius – Being #1
Ulrich Zasius († 1535), who was the first to be buried in the university chapel, also performed other duties and offices in the city in addition to his profession as a professor of law at the university. These included writing the Freiburg city charter. In the inscription on his epitaph, he is honoured as the most famous legal scholar of his time; his portrait shows him with a professor's tala and scholar's cap.
Hidden face: Michael Kübler von Kißlegg
The epitaph for Michael Kübler von Kißlegg († 1605) harbours two secrets. Kübler was a clergyman at Basel Cathedral and donated to the University of Freiburg, which explains the placement of his epitaph in the chapel since 1827.
The painting, which at first glance appears ordinary, can be pulled out of the frame on the left-hand side: It thus reveals the portrait of Kübler with a rosary in his hand in front of a crucified Christ.
The first painting shows five clergymen: But this is not just a popular prayer scene, it depicts the Freiburg Minster - The painted altar shows a depiction of the Freiburg high altar by Hans Baldung Grien with the Coronation of the Virgin, flanked by the apostles Peter and Paul on the side panels.
This type of multisided portrait, in which the sitter's likeness is concealed, was widespread in Italy and northern Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Once uncovered, Kübler's striking portrait confronts the viewer.
