Pilgram’s self-portrait

The sculpted self-portrait of Anton Pilgram can be found under the organ stand. He appears as a university scholar and holds an angle measure and compass. From a window frame he looks out at the church – somewhat melancholically, as if bearing the entire weight of the stone balcony on his shoulders. Anton Pilgram is a Moravian-Austrian master builder and sculptor, born in Brno in 1460. From 1510 to 1511 he is employed at the cathedral workshop of the Late Gothic church of St. Jacob in Brno. In 1511 he takes over the cathedral workshop at St. Stephen’s in Vienna. He supplants Jörg Öchsl with his modern design for the organ stand and in the short time he is there he manages to establish himself as one of the most important figures in the shaping of the cathedral. Pilgram dies in Vienna in 1515.