MAINZ ROMANESQUE CATHEDRAL
Mainzer Dom - Culture Center of Medieval Rhineland
Mainz is
not usually found on the top of the list of holiday travel destinations
in Germany, though any trip to the middle
Rhine Valley
for wine tasting festivals or castle exploring (see Burg
Reichenstein) ,
Mainz might be your starting point, just 25 minutes from the Frankfurt.
This Rhineland capital city and industrial center was high on the target
list of allied bombers, with the city almost eighty percent destroyed,
but like many German cities in WWII of the buildings to survive, the
Cathedrals were often spared. Bomber pilots could use them as navigation
points - fly to the big pointy building in the center of town, turn
left and drop away! - but not all were so lucky (see Berliner
Dom and Crypt). The great cathedral of Mainz, while suffering
major damage largely escaped the heavy fate of war, at least that one.
The
Mainz cathedral, offically St. Martin's Cathedral or the Mainzer
Dom is
one of the great examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany,
along with Worms ( see Worms
Kaiser Cathedral )
and Speyer (see Speyer
Cathedral), it is one of the three so-called
Kaiser Doms, the Emperor Cathedrals built in
the middle-ages at the pinnacle of the German Holy Roman Empire. The
first construction was completed in 975, when Mainz was one of the
most powerful cities in middle Germany, the center of trade and
cultural routes where the River Main (hence the name) joins the Rhine
River (see Johannisburg
Palace Aschaffenburg ). During
the Middle Ages, the right to crown German monarchs was held by the
Archbishop of Mainz until the 16th Century (see Frankfurt
Cathedral), though
due to periods of disrepair many investitures were held elsewhere.
It was
from Mainz
that the Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa launched the third crusade.
The original
cathedral was intended to make Mainz a “second
Rome”. The earliest structural elements are pre-Romanesque, while
later additions are Gothic and even some from the Baroque era, principally
the western towers. The cathedral’s distinctive octagonal dome
tower was a replacement of an early square tower damage in a fire in
1081. The cathedral also required reconstruction after heavy damage
in the siege of Mainz by Prussian artillery trying to dislodge the
troops of Napoleon who had siezed the city in 1792, when Mainz ceased
to be an independent land. The cathedral housed French troops for 11
years during the Napoleonic occupation until 1814.
The entrance the the Mainz Cathedral is behind later buildings beyond
the watchful statue of St Boniface. The interior of the cathedral features
tombs and funereal monuments of former Rhineland Prince Bishop Electors
while the heavy pillars supporting the nave are decorated with added
relief sculpture and painted images of German and French saints. Walk
the colonnaded cloister courtyard, but tread lightly unless your Nikes
trod on centuries worn bas relief effigies of long forgotten bishops
and lords.
Mainz
offers a variety of cultural activities as a major regional capital.
It is home to the Gutenberg University and where native son Johannes
Gutenberg printed his famous bible.
The Gutenberg Museum with the famous printing press and examples of
printing through the centuries is across the plaza ( see Gutenberg
Printing Museum) and
the old city's Augustinerstrasse offers beautiful half-wood architecture
and restaurants.
Check out the curious Museum of Roman Ships (s ee Mainz
Museums)
or catch a cruise down the Rhine River (see KD
Rhine Cruises)
or train along the heirtage designated middle Rhine (see Middle
Rhine Train).
If one is pursuing genealogy
research in the middle Rhine region, Mainz
is
where they keep many of the records (see Wandering
German Ancestors).
Except if your family was Catholic. Go to the city’s Hall of
Records with floor to ceiling stacks of leather bound books of births,
deaths
and property exchange through centuries
and the
staff will undertake to find what you seek. But if your ancestors were
Catholic, they will ruefully point to the domed Christus Catholic
Church
outside the window and sadly inform you in halting English that their
church's record room took a direct bomb hit. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Web Info
Mainz
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See also:
MAINZ
CITADEL FORTRESS
LTU
AIRLINES TO DUSSELDORF
FRANKENSTEIN
IN RHINELAND
FOOTSTEPS
OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM
LUFTWAFFE
MEMORIES - DEUTSCHES MUSEUM
