Paderborn Cathedral

About two hundred springs rise in the middle of Paderborn from the karst beneath, feeding the Pader, which runs about four kilometres to join the Lippe and is usually called the shortest river in Germany; the name of the city means the springs of the Pader. Charlemagne held assemblies here and a palace stood beside the cathedral, its foundations excavated and covered by a museum. In the cathedral cloister a small window carries a carving of three hares arranged so that each appears to have two ears but only three ears are shown in total, a motif found from China to western Europe and adopted as the city's emblem.

History

Charlemagne built a palace by the springs of the Pader, and by 777 it had a church dedicated to Christ and Brigit of Kildare, a base for mission among the Saxons, who repeatedly destroyed it; in 836 the relics of Liborius of Le Mans were brought to the cathedral at Bishop Badurad's request. A fire destroyed the first cathedral in 1000 AD, and Bishop Meinwerk built a new three-aisled church with a transept and an eastern crypt. In the 13th century the cathedral was rebuilt to the standards of the day, beginning before 1220 with the late Romanesque west end and continuing with an early Gothic hall nave completed in the late 13th century; Prince-Bishops Dietrich Adolf von der Recke and Ferdinand von Fürstenberg added Baroque furnishings in the 17th century, and in 1930 the diocese became an archdiocese (Wikipedia, Paderborn Cathedral).

What's there

• The three hares window - a carving where three ears serve three animals.
• The Pader springs - two hundred springs rising in the city centre.
• The Carolingian palace - excavated foundations under a modern museum.
• The cathedral - a Romanesque and Gothic building with a heavy west tower.

When to go

April to October; the springs are pleasant in the park in warm weather. The cathedral closes during services. Libori, the city's saint's festival, fills the streets in July.

Before you go

The cloister window is small and easy to miss. The city was heavily bombed and much is postwar. Libori week is extremely busy.

Nearby

Soest lies west; the Externsteine are north.

Key facts