The choir of the Barfüsser Church makes a perfect setting for this show of 15th- and early 16th-century ecclesiastical art. Winged altarpieces and several individual paintings are here grouped together in an ensemble of Late Gothic wood carving and panel painting. Some of the works were created in Basel and survived the Iconoclasm of 1529; others can be traced back to Central Switzerland or to southwest Germany. The most important exhibit is the monumental Altar to the Virgin from Saint Maria in southern Graubünden, which was made by Ivo Strigel in Memmingen in 1512.
The glass paintings in the aisle under the rood screen date from the same period and are the work of glass painters in Basel and Strasbourg. In terms of both artistry and craftsmanship, they are among the finest examples of the genre in existence.
The artefacts attesting to the role of private devotion in the Middle Ages form a category in their own right. Shown here are pilgrims’ badges, house altars, devotional pictures, prayer beads and other items intended to facilitate prayer and devotion in the home or when travelling.
> Barfüsser Church
Choir, rood screen aisle, north chapel