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er german speyer cathedral 49 19 02 n 8 26 33 e 49 3172 n 8 4424 e 49 3172 8 4424 location speyer country germany denomination catholic church sui iuris church latin church website www dom zu speyer de history founded 1030 founder conrad ii consecrated 1061 architecture functional status cathedral heritage designation unesco world heritage site style romanesque administration diocese diocese of speyer clergy bishop karl heinz wiesemann unesco world heritage site type cultural criteria ii designated 1981 5th session reference no 168 region europe and north america property 0 558 ha 1 38 acres speyer cathedral officially the imperial cathedral basilica of the assumption and st stephen in latin domus sanctae mariae spirae german domkirche st maria und st stephan zu speyer is a historical religious building in speyer germany it is the seat of the roman catholic bishop of speyer and is suffragan to the roman catholic archdiocese of bamberg the cathedral which is dedicated to st mary patron saint of speyer patrona spirensis and st stephen is generally known as the kaiserdom zu speyer imperial cathedral of speyer 1 pope pius xi raised speyer cathedral to the rank of a minor basilica of the roman catholic church in 1925 begun in 1030 under conrad ii with the east end and high vault of 1090 1103 the imposing triple aisled vaulted basilica of red sandstone is the culmination of a design which was extremely influential in the subsequent development of romanesque architecture during the 11th and 12th centuries 2 as the burial site for salian staufer and habsburg emperors and kings the cathedral is regarded as a symbol of imperial power 3 4 with the abbey of cluny in ruins it is the largest remaining romanesque church and building 5 6 it is considered to be a turning point in european architecture 7 one of the most important architectural monuments of its time 8 and one of the finest romanesque monuments 9 10 11 in 1981 the cathedral was added to the unesco world heritage list of culturally important sites as a major monument of romanesque art in the german empire 2 12 13 14 history and architecture edit middle ages edit plan and interior plan in the 19th century revealing the double bay system of vaulting interior looking east in 1025 conrad ii ordered the construction of the christian western world s largest church in speyer which was also supposed to be his last resting place construction began in 1030 on the site of a former basilica which stood on an elevated plateau right by the rhine but safe from high water along with santiago de compostela begun 1075 cluny abbey cluny iii begun 1085 and durham cathedral begun 1093 it was the most ambitious project of the time 15 the red sandstone for the building came from the mountains of the palatine forest and is thought to have been shipped down the channelled speyerbach a stream running from the mountains into the rhine at speyer 16 neither conrad ii nor his son henry iii were to see the cathedral completed conrad ii died in 1039 and was buried in the cathedral while it was still under construction henry iii was laid next to him in 1056 the graves were placed in the central aisle in front of the altar nearly completed the cathedral was consecrated in 1061 this phase of construction called speyer i consists of a westwerk a nave with two aisles and an adjoining transept the choir was flanked by two towers the original apse was round inside but rectangular on the outside the nave was covered with a flat wooden ceiling but the aisles were vaulted making the cathedral the second largest vaulted building north of the alps after aachen cathedral it is considered to be the most stunning outcome of early salian architecture and the culmination of a design which was extremely influential in the subsequent development of romanesque architecture during the 11th and 12th centuries 2 17 around 1090 conrad s grandson emperor henry iv conducted an ambitious reconstruction in order to enlarge the cathedral he had the eastern sections demolished and the foundations reinforced to a depth of up to eight metres only the lower floors and the crypt of speyer i remained intact the nave was elevated by five metres and the flat wooden ceiling was replaced with a groin vault of square bays one of the outstanding achievements of romanesque architecture 18 each vault extends over two bays of elevation every second pier was enlarged by adding a broad pilaster or dosseret which formed a system of interior buttressing engaged shafts had appeared around 1030 in buildings along the loire saint benoît sur loire auxerre loches from where the technique spread to normandy and the rhineland 19 the only other contemporary example of such a bay system is in the church of sant vicenç in cardona spain 20 the double bay system of speyer functioning as a support for the stone vaults was copied in many monuments along the rhine 21 the addition of groin vaults made the incorporation of clerestory windows possible without weakening the structure the result is an interior of monumental power albeit stark and prismatic when compared with contemporary french buildings but one which conveys an impression of roman gravitas an impression singularly appropriate for a ruler with the political pretensions of henry iv 22 architectural details of the nave and paintings by johann schraudolph in the course of these modifications the cathedral was equipped with an external dwarf gallery an arcaded gallery recessed into the thickness of the walls and which is a natural development of the blind arcade such blind arcades were used extensively as decorations lining internal and external walls of many romanesque churches at the east end of speyer cathedral the dwarf gallery and the blind arcades were composed into one of the most memorable pieces of romanesque design 23 the dwarf gallery encircles the top of the apse underlining its rounded form and runs all around the structure below the roofline this feature soon became a fundamental element in romanesque churches 24 it was adopted at worms cathedral and mainz cathedral and on the façades of many churches in italy see detail in gallery below the cathedral re emerged in a more sculptural style typical of the prime of the romanesque period 17 the transept the square of the choir the apse the central tower and the flanking towers were combined in a manner and size surpassing anything done before all surfaces and edges rise without stages the major elements within the combination remain independent speyer became a model for many other church buildings but was unsurpassed in its magnificence 4 the expanded cathedral speyer ii was completed in 1106 the year of henry s iv death with a length of 444 roman feet 134 metres and a width of 111 roman feet 43 metres it was one of the largest buildings of its time 4 the building became a political issue the enlargement of the cathedral in the small village of speyer with only around 500 inhabitants was a blunt provocation for the papacy the emperor not only laid claim to secular but also to ecclesiastical power and with the magnificence and splendour of this cathedral he underlined this bold demand the purpose of the building already a strong motive for conrad was the emperor s claim to a representative imperial roman architecture in light of the continuing struggle with pope gregory vii thus speyer cathedral is also seen as a symbol of the investiture controversy it was only five years after his death that henry iv s excommunication was revoked and his body was put to rest in his cathedral in 1111 25 in the following centuries the cathedral remained relatively unchanged in a drawing of 1610 a gothic chapel has been added to the northern aisle and in a drawing of around 1650 there is another gothic window in the northern side of the westwerk in a drawing of 1750 depicting the cathedral with the destroyed middle section the latter window is absent view from south west view showing the original westwork in 1606 the new westwork by heinrich hübsch 1854 1858 the last ruler was put to rest in the cathedral in 1308 completing a list of eight emperors and kings and a number of their wives conrad ii died 1039 and his wife gisela died 1043 henry iii died 1056 son of conrad ii henry iv died 1106 son of henry iii and his wife bertha died 1087 henry v died 1125 son of henry iv beatrice i died 1184 second wife of frederick barbarossa and their daughter agnes king philipp of swabia died 1208 son of frederick barbarossa king rudolph of habsburg died 1291 king adolph of nassau died 1298 king albert i of germany died 1308 son of rudolph of habsburg note all eight of these rulers were kings of germany however to receive the title of holy roman emperor they had to be crowned by the pope when relations between the pope and german king were good they were crowned imperator romanum or holy roman emperor when relations were strained the popes refused to crown the king as emperor so essentially these were all eight holy roman emperors but four of them were uncrowned in addition to these rulers the cathedral is the resting place of several of the ruler s wives and many of speyer s bishops modern era edit although repeatedly occupied and ransacked town and cathedral survived the thirty years war 1618 1648 with little damage during the nine years war palatinate war of succession 1688 97 the people of speyer brought furniture and possessions into the cathedral stacking everything several metres high hoping to save them from the french troops of louis xiv marauding the town but on 31 may 1689 the soldiers broke in pillaged the imperial graves and set everything alight on that day almost the whole town of speyer was burned down in the heat of the fire the western part of the nave collapsed and the late gothic elements were destroyed 12 wiener zeichnung vienna sketch 1610 showing gothic addition to northern side in the great fire the prince bishops of speyer lost their residence and a plan was considered to build a new one in the style of a baroque château in place of the cathedral because of the hostility of the people of speyer towards the bishop it was decided to build a palace in bruchsal for almost a century only the eastern part of the cathedral was secured and used for services under the direction of franz ignaz m neumann the son of renowned baroque architect balthasar neumann the building was restored from 1748 to 1772 the romanesque nave was reconstructed but the westwork rebuilt in the baroque style on its remaining lower section the funds were not sufficient to rebuild the whole cathedral in the style of the time speyer before 1750 revealing damage caused in 1689 in 1792 speyer was again occupied this time by french revolutionary troops and once more the cathedral was pillaged during the napoleonic wars 1803 to 1815 the cathedral was used as a stable and storage facility for fodder and other material in 1806 the french planned to tear the building down and use it as a quarry but this was solely prevented by the bishop of mainz joseph ludwig colmar after napoleon s victories over the prussian and russian armies in the battles of grossgörschen and lützen in 1813 around 4 000 wounded soldiers came to speyer after the battle of leipzig there were even more and the cathedral was needed as an army hospital 25 as a result of the congress of vienna 1815 speyer and the palatinate passed to bavaria at the behest of king ludwig i of bavaria johann von schraudolph and joseph schwarzmann decorated the interior walls of the cathedral with nazarene style frescoes 1846 1853 in 1854 to 1858 ludwig s successor king maximilian ii had the baroque westwork replaced by a neo romanesque one with the two tall towers and the octagonal dome resembling those that were lost thus restoring the cathedral s overall romanesque appearance the roofs were lowered and covered with copper only the gothic sacristy kept its slate roof eduard rottmanner was organist at the church from 1839 to 1843 on 24 september 1861 the then prince of wales of the united kingdom prince albert edward who would later become king edward vii first met his wife princess alexandra of denmark later queen alexandra of britain at the speyer cathedral in designing the façade of the westwork heinrich hübsch an architect of early historicism created a neo romanesque design which drew on features of the original westwork and those of several other romanesque buildings scaling the windows differently and introducing a gable on the facade a row of statues over the main portal and polychrome stonework in sandstone yellow and rust these restorations coincided with the development of romanticism and german nationalism during which many buildings were restored in the romanesque and gothic style of the holy roman empire speyer cathedral was then elevated to the level of a national monument speyer cathedral from the south the interior decorations and the new westwork were considered a major feat in the 19th century ludwig i was of the opinion that nothing greater had been created than these paintings yet by the start of the 20th century the mood had changed in 1916 georg dehio a german art historian was convinced that among all the misfortunes to befall the cathedral the alterations of the 19th century were not the smallest 26 the graves of the emperors and kings were originally placed in the central aisle in front of the altar in the course of the centuries knowledge of the exact location was lost in a big excavation campaign in 1900 the graves were discovered and opened and the identity of the rulers were established some of the contents e g clothing can be seen at the historical museum of the palatinate near the cathedral the restored coffins were relocated into a newly constructed crypt open to the public under the main altar in 1906 the restoration of the cathedral beginning in 1957 was directed towards both securing the structure and recreating the original atmosphere of the interior 17 some of the plaster and 19th century paintings from the walls was removed only the cycle of 24 scenes from the life of the virgin between the windows of the nave have been preserved gables which had been removed from the transept and choir during the baroque era were replaced using etchings and examples in related buildings changes in the crossing were also undone but enforcements from the baroque were left in place for structural reasons additionally the baroque style curved roof on the eastern dome remained 25 the speyer fragment of the codex argenteus edit the final leaf of the important codex argenteus was discovered in the cathedral in october 1970 the codex contains a translation of new testament gospels into the gothic language during the renovation of the saint afra chapel of the cathedral the leaf was found in a box with non authentic relics that was hidden in 1859 by immuring it 27 the leaf with text on both sides contains the final verses of the gosp...
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