Speyer Cathedral
Speyer Cathedral, formally the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen, is the largest Romanesque church still standing anywhere in the world and the seat of the Bishop of Speyer. Begun around 1030 under the Salian emperor Conrad II, it was conceived as a monumental statement of imperial power and a dynastic burial place, its mighty twin-towered facade and long arcaded nave setting the template for Romanesque architecture across the empire.
Beneath the choir lies the crypt, the largest Romanesque columned hall in Europe, where eight Holy Roman emperors and kings, along with several empresses and bishops, are buried, making Speyer one of the foremost royal mausoleums of medieval Germany. The building survived wars, fires and a near-total threat of demolition under French occupation, and was restored in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to recover its austere original form.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the cathedral remains a place of pilgrimage and quiet grandeur on the banks of the Rhine. Its scale and harmony continue to draw visitors who come to walk the long nave, descend into the imperial crypt, and sense the weight of a thousand years of European history.
- Annual visitors
- ≈ 1,000,000
- Location
- 49.3172, 8.4424
- Local time
- 00:34 (Europe/Berlin)
🕘 Visiting hours
| Mon–Sat | 09:00–19:00 |
| Sun | 11:30–17:30 |
Summer hours (Apr-Oct); Nov-Mar Mon-Sat close 17:00, Sun 11:30-17:00. May close for services.
✨ Saints & blessed venerated here
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Saint Stephen Saint
Co-patron (protomartyr); cathedral dedicated to him; head relic of Pope St Stephen I displayed.
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Virgin Mary Saint
Principal patron (Assumption); venerated statue (Patrona Spirensis).
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Bernard of Clairvaux Saint
Depicted among west-portal patron figures; tradition he sang the Salve Regina here.
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Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) Saint
Taught in Speyer; relic and commemoration in the cathedral.
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John the Baptist Saint
Depicted among the west-portal patron saints.
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Pirminius Saint
Regional missionary saint of the Speyer area, venerated in the diocese.
Care & donations
Diocese of Speyer / Domkapitel Speyer
Donations channelled through the Dombauverein support restoration
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