Architectural Rivalry as Civic Mirror: The Dominican Church and the Cathedral in Foutheenth-Century Strasbourg

Between 1307 and ca. 1331, the Friars Preachers of Strasbourg undertook a building expansion to make their church the largest in the city after the cathedral. The rebuilding program followed a clash of authority between the Dominicans and the regular clergy and city council of Strasbourg, during which the order was driven from the city from 1287 to 1290. The Dominicans' fourteenth-century building campaign reaffirmed the order's popularity with the faithful and its need for a large double nave in which to preach. Moreover, the new choir was a specific challenge to the clergy and citizens whose interest was invested in the local cathedral; the Dominican church was one of the few city structures to attempt to compete visually with the cathedral. This effort, coupled with the difficulties engendered by the Dominicans' financial success, provides an instructive example of medieval architectural exchange.