The Gothic collegiate church of St Nicholas in Freiburg hides some of the most beautiful Art Nouveau stained-glass windows by Jozef Mehoffer. In 1895. The then 25-year-old artist from Krakow spectacularly won an international competition to create stained glass windows and continued to create them for the next 40 years.

Stained glass designed by Józef Mehoffer
. The monumental (up to 12 m high) glass images are placed in the soaring Gothic windows of the chapels that open into the side aisles (1895-1918) and in the windows of the presbytery (1919-1936). They depict the Holy Trinity, the victorious Mother of God, episodes from the Gospels - such as the Adoration of the Three Kings, the Apostles, the saints particularly venerated in Freiburg - and scenes from the city's history.

Interwoven into the figural scenes are fragments of architecture and landscape, ornamentally processed floral motifs. They shimmer with a kaleidoscopic variation of colour, depending on the light, thus making the architecture of the cathedral unreal and at the same time giving it a coherent character. Created over the years, the glass images reflect the artistic changes in the art of their time - from the decline of historicism, through the successive phases of Art Nouveau (the nave chapels), to an aesthetic close to Art Déco (the presbytery).

Some of the most beautiful Art Nouveau stained glass
. This is one of the greatest sets of stained glass windows in modern world art. It is distinguished by the virtuosity of the lighting effects in the sanctuary resulting from the artist's excellent understanding and use of stained glass material and technique. The poetic iconographic invention, the decorative style and, above all, the excellent craftsmanship made these stained glass windows one of the most interesting works of European Art Nouveau, which received an enthusiastic reception not only in Switzerland but also throughout Europe.

On the wave of this success, J. Mehoffer received other commissions for stained glass, including for the church in Onnens (1902), in the Grauer family burial chapel in Opava (1901) and polychromes, stained glass and paintings in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Turku (1930-1939). He also created the design for the stained glass windows for the Latin Cathedral and painted the polychrome vault in the Armenian Cathedral.

Stained glass designs in the form of monumental cartons can be seen in the National Museum in Kraków.