The Colors at the Main Gate of the Mainz Cathedral

jwr47

The main entrance at the Mainz Cathedral

At the northern side of the Mainz Cathedral the main entrance provides access to the main market
of the city. The bronze doors have been cast around 1000 AD and the surrounding pillar section has
been dated 1200AD.
Next to the bronze doors we may identify two pillars with Corinthian capitals. The
pillars have been replaced in earlier eras. One of the pillars has been painted black, the
other one red. Originally both pillars had been made from black slate1.
The red and black color contrasts of the painted pillars suggested to investigate the traces of red
color at the former pillars at the Wrzburg cathedral, which I had discovered a few months ago.
Mainz and Wrzburg are being connected by the river Main and of course the color symbolism of
the pillars might have been synchronized around 1200AD.

1: Color Symbolism at the Mainz Cathedral

My suggestion had been based on a right pillar named Iachim and a left pillar named Booz, which
of course required some more comparative study. First of all I checked the Wrzburg Iachim-pillar,
which had been decorated with red color. The Iachim-pillar has been described in 1. King 7
(Elberfelder translation) as located at the right side.

Translated quotation from Das Marktportal am Mainzer Dom

The Corinthian Capitals

Both Corinthian capitals and the decorations of both socket bases are slightly different. Compared
to the difference between both the Wrzburg pillars titled Iachim respectively Booz the pillars of
the Mainz cathedral's main entrance are rather negligible. However the mason may easily have
chosen to produce symmetrical pillars with symmetrical designed capitals and sockets.
Symmetry however seemed to have been unwanted. And therefore color symmetry may have been
equally unwanted from the beginning as well.

3: Left-sided pillar (black)

5: Left-sided pillar (black)

2: Right-sided pillar (red)

4: Right-sided pillar (red)

In a photograph the left pillar may look relatively blue, but my inspection reveals the slate stone is
really black. In fact slate is defined as a dark bluish gray color2. Slate gray is a gray color with a
slight azure tinge that is a representation of the average color of the material slate. As a tertiary
color, slate is an equal mix of purple and green pigments3.
Maybe the slate color also had been considered as the locally available best fit choice for the
symbolical color blue as quoted in the Bible. The slate pillar may not have been painted at all and
originally also the red pillar may have been am unpainted red sandstone element.
2 Slate-color - definition of Slate-color by The Free Dictionary
3 Slate gray

The pillars Booz and Jachim

Between 1230 and 1644 the pillars labeled Booz and Jachin4 had been located at the
main entrance of the Wrzburg Kilian-cathedral. The prototype pillars for Booz and
Jachim had been based on the equivalent entrance pillars at the Jerusalem Temple which
had been designed by the Freemasons' Father Hiram of Tyre.
Both Wrzburg pillars had been labeled at the top of the capitels (Booz respectively Iachim) 5.
Traces of red paint may even be identified in my photographs. Other colors may not be identified by
simply observing, but at my last inspection I found blue or dark traces at other sculptures 6. Of
course I had not been enabled to do some professional analysis for chemical or physical
investigations of the pillars' colorings.

6: The Booz and Jachim pillars at the Wrzburg Cathedral (1230)

The 8-segmented Iachim-pillar had been equipped with a complex knot, whereas the 4-segmented
Boaz-pillar has been decorated with two simpler knots.

8: Booz and Iachim

4 Jachin is explained in Gen 46,10; Boas in Ruth 2-4

5 Jachin und Boas Bibelwissenschaft.de
6 Symbolism in the Wrzburg Episcopal Residence

7: Iachim pillar (1230)

Jachin and Boas in medieval churches

In medieval eras (1200-1230) the Temple's pillars used to be designed very carefully. The
corresponding biblical quotations is found in 1 Kings 77:
15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in
circumference.[h] 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the
pillars; each capital was five cubits[i] high. 17 A network of interwoven chains adorned
the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in
two rows[j] encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars.[k] He
did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in
the shape of lilies, four cubits[l] high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowlshaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around.
21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named
Jakin[m] and the one to the north Boaz.[n] 22 The capitals on top were in the shape of
lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.
Boaz stood on the left and Jachin ("founding", Tiberian Hebrew Yn) stood on the right.
Jachin that is, "He will/shall establish". Boaz that is, "In its strength"
Equipping portals with Jachin and Boas had been quit common in medieval eras
mostly as architecturally superfluous pairs of pillar at the entrance section. Especially in
Italy in the 12th century (such as Santa Maria Maggiore in Tuscania) these pillars have
been rather popular. These elements referred to Solomon's Temple as a predecessor of
the Church and the durance and power. In the Wrzburg cathedral the pillars had been
labeled JACHIM and BOOZ
In the 18th century JACHIM and BOOZ grew to be understood as Freemason
symbols, especially dedicated to the entrance portal. These pillars equally symbolized
stability, power and humanity.
In Rudolf Steiner's Theosophic ideas Jakim (!) symbolized the introduction of
mankind into human life. In contrast Boas represented death and a transfer entry into
a spiritual world. (German title: Weltwesen und Ichheit, Gesamtausgabe 169, 1963,
58ff).8

Pillars in Freemason symbolism

Both pillars Jachin (right) and Boas (left) are elements in a Freemason's symbolism. These pillars
are to be included as pillars for the assembly hall. Boaz is to be located on the left and Jachin
("founding", Tiberian Hebrew Yn) on the right. Jachin that is, "He will/shall establish".
Boaz that is, "In its strength".

7 Jachin und Boas Wikipedia

8 Jachin und Boas Bibelwissenschaft.de

The Color Codings in the pillars of Rudolf Steiner's Theosophy

In Theosophy some of the symbols9 for Boaz and Jachin have been painted red and violet-blue
suggesting a representation of the red & blue blood.
Generally the red J-pillar is arising from the sea and the violet-blue ( to be more precise the violet
border color of the rainbow) B-pillar from the soil.

9: Apokalyptisches Siegel, gemalt von Clara Rettich (Stuttgart 1911)

Apokalyptisches Siegel 4; painted by Clara Rettich according to Rudolf Steiner's ideas, Stuttgart 1911
Licence Creative Commons Namensnennung, Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen.
Boaz is known as the pillar of strength or severity and represents the Sun. Jachin is known as the
pillar of beauty or mildness and represents the Moon. Boaz and Jachin are built into the architecture
of all masonic lodges.
These colors red & blue may be found in various locations of Mainz.

9 Apocalyptic seal (1911) and Jachin and Boas and

Adam Kadmon in center of Jachin and Boaz. Androgyne of male and female, as above so below.

Symbolic usage of Red & Blue Colors in Mainz

St. Mary in Red and Blue (Market place in front of the Mainz Cathedral)

10: St. Mary in Red and Blue (Market

place in front of the Mainz Cathedral)

St. Mary in red, white and blue and Josef blue, white and red

11: The holy family in red, white and blue (downtown Mainz)

Printing in Red & Blue

Although Guttenberg merely had printed in black & white the sample of color printing always uses
red & blue as a standard illumination procedure for Bible manuscripts.

Red & Blue at the front side of an ancient wooden clock (1750)
Also an ancient clock illustrated a male person in red and a blue person in blue as decorations.

12: Red & Blue at the front side of an ancient wooden clock (1750)

Red & Blue in the Mainz Evangeliar

The Mainz Evangeliar in the Gutenbergmuseum reveals an alternating red & blue illuminated page
Im Principio Erat... of the Genesis page:

Red & Blue at a Mainz baptismal font

In the largely destroyed ruins of St. Christoph church small niches have been reconstructed and in
one of these I discovered the red & blue baptismal font in which Guttenberg had been baptized as a
child.

13: Red & Blue at a Mainz baptismal font

A Merovingian King in Red & Blue 10

The Mainz regional museum exhibits a Merovingian Duke or King of Planig in red & blue. The
grave had been discovered in 1939. The king's death had been documented at 525 n. Chr.
I am unsure whether the colors of his garments had been identified as the symbolic colors red &
blue.

14: Merovingian Duke or King of Planig

10 2010: Der Frst von Planig - Mainzer Landesmuseum

The red Huns' pillar in front of the Mainz Cathedral

The red Heunensule (Huns' pillar) in front of the Mainz Cathedral is located exactly in front of the
main entrance portal.
Originally the Huns' pillars had been produced as a set op pillars for the Mainz
cathedral. However the architect mason obviously despised the material and chose other
pillars. In the beginning 42 pillars may have been created, in the 18 th century 14, and
around 1960 a total number of eight. 11
At the millennium festivities (1975) one of the remaining Huns' pillars had been presented to the
city of Mainz.

15: The red Heunensule (Huns' pillar) in front of the Mainz Cathedral

11 Heunensule

Inhaltsverzeichnis
The main entrance at the Mainz Cathedral...........................................................................................1
The Corinthian Capitals...................................................................................................................2
The pillars Booz and Jachim............................................................................................................3
Jachin and Boas in medieval churches............................................................................................4
Pillars in Freemason symbolism......................................................................................................4
The Color Codings in the pillars of Rudolf Steiner's Theosophy ..................................................5
Symbolic usage of Red & Blue Colors in Mainz.................................................................................6
St. Mary in Red and Blue (Market place in front of the Mainz Cathedral).....................................6
St. Mary in red, white and blue and Josef blue, white and red........................................................6
Printing in Red & Blue.........................................................................................................................7
Red & Blue at the front side of an ancient wooden clock (1750)........................................................7
Red & Blue at a Mainz baptismal font ................................................................................................8
A Merovingian King in Red & Blue ....................................................................................................9
The red Huns' pillar in front of the Mainz Cathedral.........................................................................10