192. Tomb of Henry the Lion and Mathilda of England.

St. Blasius Cathedral, Brauschweig. Gothic.

 

 

The Brunswick Cathedral was commissioned and built by Henry the Lion from 1173 to 1195 and is dedicated specifically to the Saint Blaise, John the Baptist and Thomas Becket. The cathedral was originally founded as a collegiate church and was consecrated on December 29, 1226. The construction was interrupted numerous times during the various different exiles of Henry the Lion, therefore, he and his second wife Matilda, Duchess of Saxony were buried in an unfinished cathedral. The tomb is located in the nave of the cathedral and the limestone recumbent statues are idealized representations of the king and queen that were created almost half a decade after their deaths between 1230 and 1240.