Exterior view
by STEINBACH, Erwin von, Photo
The fa�ade of Strasbourg Cathedral was begun shortly after the completion of the nave in 1275. Here the famous wall grilles of the Flamboyant building of Saint-Urbain in Troyes are taken to extremes through “tracery harps,” so that in the portals, for example, three layers are staggered one behind the other: at the front the decorated gable, behind it a screen of tracery, and only then the actual wall. Even the gigantic rose window in the middle of the fa�ade stands out from the background by virtue of the fact that the spandrels are free-standing circles of tracery in front of the rose.
The fa�ade was first designed by Erwin von Steinbach who was a central figure in the construction of the Strasbourg Cathedral.