St Peter’s Cathedral (Worms Cathedral)

The Cathedral was the scene of several milestones of European history. In 1048, Bruno of Egisheim-Dagsburg was elected pope Leo IX here; in 1122, the Concordate of Worms ended the Investiture Contest, the struggle for supremacy between the emperor and the Church; and in 1521, Martin Luther was summoned by emperor Charles V to recant his teachings before the Diet of Worms, a historic assembly that was to change the history of Christianity.

Today the Cathedral is a Catholic parish church, raised in 1925 by the pope to the rank of a basilica minor. This honorary title is granted to churches that are extraordinarily significant to their vicinity.

Construction works lasted from 1130 to 1181, while simultaneously the old, early Romanesque basilica from the first quarter of the 11th century was pulled down.

The first traces of the Cathedral date back to early Christian and late Roman times. The first bishop of Worms, Bertholf, is mentioned in 614. His cathedral was considerably smaller than today’s church.

The church as it can be seen today was predominantly built in the Romanesque style. But it was remodelled and extended in several architectural periods.

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High and late Romanesque period

Bishop Burchard (1000—1025), the most influential of all bishops of Worms, had a new, early Romanesque cathedral built. It was the size of today’s building—the eastern towers being 65 meters (213 feet) tall, the western towers 58 meters (190 feet)—, and part of it is still preserved. In the 12th century, several parts of the cathedral were remodelled in the high and late Romanesque style.

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Gothic period

The western parts were built from 1125/30 to 1144, the nave from 1160 to 1170. The western choir may have been finished before a consecration in 1181. Around 1300, the Romanesque St Nicholas chapel was replaced by a Gothic chapel, while the south porch was re-decorated with sculptures forming a pictorial Bible. The stone reliefs showing scenes from the life of Christ in the northern nave originally adorned the former late Gothic cloister (late 15th century).

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Baroque period

The Baroque high altar by Balthasar Neumann was built after the city’s devastation in 1689.

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The Cathedral is the burial site for the ancestors and members of the Salian dynasty, who had a castle in Worms until in the 11th century. In the Middle Ages, emperors paid the Cathedral numerous visits, and in the church or in its immediate surroundings, important political events took place, some of them sparking serious aftermaths.

German cathedrals built on behalf of emperors are usually called Kaiserdome, ‘imperial cathedrals’. The imperial cathedrals of Worms, Mainz and Speyer form a triad of churches that is a unique example of Romanesque architecture in the world. Worms Cathedral has been a landmark for the city for over 1000 years.

Image galleries

... St Peter’s Cathedral (German)
... St Peter’s Cathedral (interior / German)

 

360° panoramic view of the place before south façade of St Peter’s cathedral

... DSL version
... ISDN version 

address

Wormser Dom
entrance at the south porch
Andreasstr
67547 Worms

opening hours

opening hours for visitors
April—October: 9am—6pm
November—March: 9am—5pm

rectory

Pfarrbüro Dom St. Peter
Lutherring 9
67547 Worms
phone: +49 6241 6115
fax: +49 6241 26527
e-mail: pfarramt@wormser-dom.de

locate the Cathedral on the city map (German)