First some background. The Frauenkirche is the most iconic building in Munich. One of the largest brick churches north of the Alps, consecrated in AD 1494.pic.twitter.com/Qj0YNyOX3f
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This is the „Teufelstritt“, „Devil‘s footprint“, in the floor of the Frauenkirche in Munich. You can see the point behind the heel, where the impression made by a kind of claw or heel spur has been filled in. There varying two stories abt how this footprint came to be made:pic.twitter.com/oDKMHf4oZi
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It was heavily damaged in WWII air raids, but not destroyed. The Teufelstritt survived the bombs, it is an old feature, and the legends are old too.pic.twitter.com/eyPmvNNYdq
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There are two basic stories told, about why the Devil left his footprint in the church. They are opposite stories, but both depend upon a central feature of the interior: If you stand near the entrance, *only the window behind the high altar* is visible.pic.twitter.com/yBflxGGkjQ
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The side windows are hidden behind columns. That picture is from the 19th c., after the church was „re-gothicised“ Before then, the interior was Baroque, complete with a huge partition or ‚rood screen‘ on the high altar, that also obscured even the altar windowpic.twitter.com/drAvkkMAoI
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So if you stood near entrance, you couldn‘t see any windows. Both Devil‘s footprint legends depend upon this curiosity of the Frauenkirche interior, and so must date between ca. 1620 (after baroque screen installed) and 1858 (before it was removed to make it more Gothic.)
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One legend holds that Jörg von Halspach, the 15th c. late Gothic architect responsible for the Frauenkirche, made a deal with the devil: If the devil helped him build the church, he could have the soul of the first faithful person to enter it.
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So the devil agreed, but when the day came for faithful to visit the church & the devil demanded payment, Jörg countered that he‘D done shoddy work: There were no windows. The devil stepped into the church, confirmed, & stamped his foot in frustration.
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The other story is an opposite one, about how the devil wished to destroy the church, rather than build it. He waited until it was finished, but before it was consecrated - because then he wouldn‘t be allowed inside.
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He snuck in, and saw that there were no windows, and stamped his foot in delight at the folly of the architects. He forgot his plan to destroy the church and just left.
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The common theme of both legends of course is that the Devil never ventures far beyond the entrance; his judgments are overhasty. There is perhaps also a gentle attempt to defend the heavy-handed Baroque aesthetic, with its imposing altar panels and decoration.
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Alas at the bottom I must credit all photos to Wikipedia. I went to the Frauenkirche to take my own for this thread, but much of it was roped off for some reason (Corona?), I couldn‘t get to the footprint, and there were weird people singing.
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