An important European gothic monument, the portal of the Lausanne cathedral has been restored. For nearly 40 years, only workers and art historians have had access to the painted portal with its 160 sculpted figures.
The cathedral in Lausanne is more than eight centuries old. The portal was not only the cathedral entrance but served as liturgical message-bearer for pilgrims.
The restored portal was unveiled to the public last Thursday after 40 years of being closed to the public.
In 1872 the French architect Viollet-le-Duc came to Lausanne to restore the tower.
The painted portal of the Lausanne Cathedral is a masterpiece of gothic architecture, distinguished notably from other existing portals by its placement on the southern flank of the cathedral – a practically unique example.
Between 1225 and 1235, pilgrimages took on enormous importance in Europe. Lausanne at that time had a population of roughly 6000 inhabitants, and was welcoming between 60,000 and 70,000 pilgrims each year. Faced with such an extraordinary influx of visitors, the builders of the time decided to displace the ‘Miraculous Virgin’ to a chapel at the south of the cathedral. The consequence was the decision – late in comparison with the rest of the construction which stared in 1190 – to create a new main entrance in the southern façade: the painted portal.
The portal is a sort of articulation between the sacred and the profane. Entering the cathedral by this gate, the pilgrims were immediately plunged into the history of eternal salvation. As if wanting to put them at the center of the message, the four internal facades are doted with sculpted figures, another specificity of the work.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, cathedrals were like stone books for a population largely illiterate and yet invested with a strong religious devotion. The buildings were veritable messages, carriers of the liturgy.
What is unique about the Lausanne cathedral is the treatment of the coronation of the virgin. This gothic monument portrays a virgin of humility rather than a triumphant virgin.
On the restored portal of the Lausanne cathedral one can witness rendering of Saint Simeon, whose serenity displays an antique style typical of the period 1170-1245. Originally the portal was polychromic and of which today only fragments of coloring remain. The Lausanne portal was one of the first to display the monumental sculpture of the Middle Ages which was originally entirely painted. Saint Simeon, a figure from the New Testament.
The portal figure of Saint John the Baptist holds a disk with the lamb of God and pronounces the phrase ‘Here is the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. While Jesus has just been baptized. The statue is the most heavily altered. As in other portals, Saint John the Baptist carries the stigmata of the Reform of 1536. The eyebrows, the nose, and the lips have been broken by the Reform iconoclasts 
who attempted as weel to break the eyes and mouth, the seat of the soul and speech. All the figures of the the postal have also been retouched by successive layers of paint, which also played a role in the preservation of the original layers. The Cathedral is a 10 minute walk from Lausanne’s central train station.
