Cathedral of St Peter is a church in
WormsWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
, southern
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was the seat of the Catholic
Prince-Bishopric of WormsThe Bishopric of Worms was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Located on both banks of the Rhine around Worms just north of the union of that river with the Neckar, it was largely surrounded by the Palatinate. Worms had been the seat of a bishop from Roman times...
until its extinction in 1800.
It is a
basilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
with four round towers, two large domes, and a choir at each end. The interior is built in red
sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
built.
Only the ground plan and the lower part of the western towers belong to the original building consecrated in 1110. The remainder was mostly finished by 1181, but the west choir and the
vaultingA Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
were built in the 13th century, the elaborate south portal was added in the 14th century, and the central dome has been rebuilt.
The ornamentation of the older parts is simple; even the more elaborate later forms show no high development of workmanship. Unique sculptures depicting
salvationWithin religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
stories appear above the
GothicGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
-era south doorway. The
baptismal fontA baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
contains five remarkable stone reliefs from the late 15th century. The church's original windows were destroyed by bombing in 1943; between 1965 to 1995 new windows were made by Mainz artist
Alois PlumAlois Johannes Plum is an artist working in Mainz, Germany, who has acquired a national reputation for his stained glass, his paintings , and his plastic art. Active since the 1950s, his work decorates hundreds of churches and public buildings in Germany...
.
The cathedral is 110 m long, and 27 m wide, or, including the
transeptFor the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s, which are near the west end, 36 m (inner measurements). The height in the nave is 26 m; under the domes it is 40 m.
Burials
- Conrad I, Duke of Carinthia
Conrad I , of the Salian Dynasty, was the duke of Carinthia from 1004. He was the third son Duke Otto I and thus brother of both Henry of Speyer, father of the Emperor Conrad II, and Bruno, who was pope as Gregory V. He outlived both those elder brothers and his father.Along with his father, he was...
- Conrad II, Duke of Carinthia
Conrad II , called the Younger, was the Salian duke of Carinthia from 1035. His father, Conrad I died in 1011 when he was a minor. Adalbero of Eppenstein was given the duchy of Carinthia...
- Conrad, Duke of Lorraine
Conrad the Red was a Duke of Lorraine from the Salian dynasty.He was the son of Werner V, Count of the Nahegau, Speyergau, and Wormsgau. His mother was a sister of Conrad I of Germany. In 941, he succeeded his father in his counties and obtained an additional territory, the Niddagau...
- Henry of Speyer
Henry of Speyer or Heinrich von Speyer, also called Graf im Wormsgau was the father of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II....
- Queen Matilda
Matilda of Frisia was the second wife and first Queen of Henry I, King of the Franks. She was the daughter of Liudulf, Margrave of Frisia and Gertrude. Her date of birth is unknown....
(d. 1034), consort of Henry I of FranceHenry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...
and daughter of Conrad II, Holy Roman EmperorConrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
Worms Cathedral in the Nibelungen Saga
An episode in the
NibelungenliedThe Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
takes place at the portal of the cathedral. The rival queens Brünhilde and Kriemhild disputed over which of their husbands (
SiegfriedSiegfried is a German language male given name, meaning "victory peace".Siegfried may also refer to:-People:* Sigfrid of Sweden , English missionary to Sweden and patron saint of Växjö...
or Gunther) has the higher rank, and therefore, which of them should enter the cathedral first. This is a key episode which leads to Siegfried's death and the destruction of the Nibelungs.
The portal in question was on the north side of the cathedral and was considerably more elaborate before it was destroyed in 1689.
In connection with this episode, the
Nibelungenfestspiele have taken place on an outdoor stage in front of the cathedral since 2002.