Worms Cathedral

St Peter's at Worms is one of the three Imperial Cathedrals of the Rhineland with Speyer and Mainz, built mainly between about 1130 and 1181 in red sandstone with four round towers and two domes. It has apses at both the east and west ends and no great west portal, a plan found in this group of buildings, so the main entrance is on the side. The interior is austere Romanesque with a baroque high altar by Balthasar Neumann added in the 1740s. The Nibelungenlied places several scenes in Worms, including the queens' quarrel at the cathedral door, and the city runs a festival on the epic each summer.

History

The cathedral hill, safe from floods, has been inhabited since the third millennium BC, by Celts, then the Germanic Vangiones, after whom the Wonnegau is named, and then the Romans, who built a market and temple area here before abandoning their garrison in 401. The cathedral is closely linked with Bishop Burchard and the height of Worms' history in the 12th and 13th centuries; most of it was finished by 1181, the west choir and vaults followed in the 13th century and the south portal in the 14th, and it was the seat of the prince-bishops until the bishopric ended in 1802, becoming a minor basilica in 1925 (Wikipedia, Worms Cathedral).

Highlights

• The double choir - apses at both ends and no west front.
• The four towers - round towers and two domes in red sandstone.
• The Neumann altar - a baroque high altar in a Romanesque interior.
• The Nibelungen link - scenes from the epic set at the cathedral.

When to go

Year-round; the cathedral closes during services. The Nibelungen festival is staged in front of it in summer, restricting access to the square.

Practical notes

The interior is deliberately plain. The city around it was heavily bombed and rebuilt. Festival staging occupies the cathedral square in summer.

Nearby

Speyer lies south; Mainz is north.

Key facts