Freiberg Cathedral

The Freiberg Cathedral is the only Protestant church to be called a cathedral - it was built (& rebuilt) as a cathedral, converted to a Protestant church, then re-instated due to the Saxon kings converting to Catholicism at strategic times. Several members of the royal family are buried here. It also contains a 2674 pipe Silbermann organ (organ players will know the significance of that). One of the more famous parts of the cathedral is the Tulip Pulpit which looks like it belongs in a pantomime set not in a cathedral.
Another is the Golden Arch, one of the earliest surviving step portals. This was the entrance door to the 12th Century church but became a side door when the cathedral was rebuilt after a fire in 1484. Unusually someone actually realised the value of it in the 18th century and built a protective glasshouse around it.
German churches have a special box for the local aristocracy so they could get close to God without having to mix with ordinary people. So the Dom has a royal box and also a box for the mining guild. The little statue on the box proves that even 15th Century German miners are feral buggers with long beards!!
The lovely thing about being a tourist is that sometimes you have endure the humiliation of being picked out from the crowd. So it is in Freiberg. If you want to take photos inside the Dom you have to pay for the privilege, to prove you are allowed to you have to wear a lovely bright green “FOTO” sticker – which just screams “I’m a tourist, rip me off and insult me”!