Adam's Gate (Adamspforte in German) is the main entrance into the thousand year-old Bamberg Cathedral. The gate was finished after a reconstruction of the cathedral in about 1235.
The gate is adorned by six statues. To the left are Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Emperor Henry II, the founder of the Cathedral, and his wife Cunigunde.
It was common in Romanesque and Gothic art, to have a ruling couple facing the first humans, thus, to the right are statues of Adam and Eve, together with a statue of the first pope, Saint Peter, one of the patron saints of the cathedral.
Stephen was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem. His teachings aroused the enmity of non-Christians, who eventually accused of blasphemy and stoned him to death. Stephen's speech at his trial is recorded in the New Testament in Acts 6.
Stephen is venerated as a saint in pretty much all branches of the Christian faith. At the Adam's Gate, Stephen is depicted with a stone in his hands.
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