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Bern Minster: Interior view looking back at organ loft above main entrance
The first organ was installed ca. 1740. The choir, in the eastern side of the cathedral between the nave and the sanctuary, houses the first Renaissance choir stalls in Switzerland. The carving includes both animals and images of daily life.
The minster, dedicated to St Vincent (originally the parish church, later made collegiate), was planned by Matthäus Ensinger from 1421 to replace a 12th century predecessor. It was largely completed by about 1540 by successive architects, including Vincenz Ensinger and Erhard Küng. The upper part of the tower was finished only in 1889-1893. It is an aisled, Late Gothic basilica with a richly sculpted portal of the Last Judgment by Küng, interior statuary (1517), important stained glass (1441-1460) and choir-stalls (1522), and is the outstanding Late Gothic building in Switzerland.