Frauenkirche: the devil’s footprint

Look at the two towers and then at the door between them. Just inside, on the floor of the vestibule, is a tile bearing the print of a foot with a kind of spur at the heel. People in Munich call it the “Teufelstritt”, the devil’s footprint.

1Two versions of a trick

The legend comes in different versions. In one, the devil slipped into the newly finished church to mock it and, from this spot, could not see a single window. He thought no one would want to pray in a church left in darkness, stamped his foot in triumph and left. When he later discovered the windows, he turned into a furious wind to bring the church down. In the other, the master builder, Jörg von Halsbach, is said to have made a pact with the devil: his help in exchange for the first soul to enter, on condition that the church had no windows. Realising he had been tricked, the devil stamped on the floor.

And they say the wind that so often blows around the Frauenkirche is the devil, still waiting outside.

2The explanation

The legend was probably born in the Baroque period: from 1620 a large altar and an arch hid the only window visible from the entrance, and from this spot the columns block the rest. The altars were removed in the 19th century. As for the footprint, historians suggest it was more likely a craftsmen’s joke.

Another cathedral legend claims that one tower is a metre taller than the other. It is false: the north tower is 98.57 metres high and the south one 98.45.

3What to look for

• The devil’s footprint, in the vestibule, by the entrance.
• The green domes of the towers, added in the early 16th century.
• Jörg von Halsbach’s tombstone, in the south aisle, near the entrance.