Feierbendkonzerte

Last night I attended a Feierbendkonzerte (evening recital) at Leonhardskirche.  In 1118 the collegiate church was consecrated, but the crypt is the only part remaining from that time.  The inner church dates from about 1135 and everything else dates from about the 15th century.  Like most churches in Basel, it was originally Catholic and then after Luther was Reformed.  Unlike most churches in Basel, however, it still holds services.

Leonhardskirche is unassuming from the outside.  It stands on the Upper Rhine and I happened upon its square while wandering around Barfüsserplatz and deciding to see where some steps in one of the little alleys lead (incidentally, this tactic, while I don't think very intelligent in most of the US cities I've been to, has always served me well in Europe).  Leonhardskircheplatz doesn't have a very good view of anything except the tops of building, and the church is surrounded by other very large modern looking buildings, but I'm a sucker for churches so I walked inside.

The first thing that strikes me about the church is its lectern, which looks like it's all been hand carved.  You can see it in the picture I linked above, but not close enough to see the detail.  The bottom consists of a pedestal with eight arms of ivy to support the base, which has more intricacies than it was possible for me to take in at one time.  The top of the lectern is shorter and wider, and its designs mirror its base.  If the rest of the church had been decorated in this fashion it would have been rococo, but alone against a relatively plain backdrop it's breathtaking. 

There were plaques all along the walls commemorating one important person in the church's history or another.  The plaques about the priests and bishops were in Latin, and thus I understood most of it, but I was hopeless when it came to the plaques in German.  I understand hardly any German as it is, but the typography was flowery and ornate, so I had no chance.  I think they were about patrons of the church.  Every single plaque however, had a unicorn and a bee on it, and I have not yet been able to figure out what they symbolize.  Perhaps St. Leonhard's crest?

I'm sure this is a more modern addition, but there are small lights throughout the church that hang down on utility wire and they look like they're floating.  It really is quite beautiful.

The musician, Magdalena Hasibeder, played on the church's 1718 Silbermann organ.  She played Bach's "Ach was soll ich Sünder machen", BWV 770, Homilius' Trio: "Komm, Heileger Geist, Herre Gott", and ended with Bach's Präludium und Fuge e-mol, BWV 548.  I sat in front of the lectern and let my eyes wander over the carvings while she played.  Bach's Präludium was my favorite.  As the music got closer to its crescendo, the pillars of the church transformed from structures that hold the arched ceiling in place, into paths to the heavens.