Speyer - Cathedral

Speyer gained importance, when the Salian dynasty entered the political stage with Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II. He commissioned the construction of of this church, known as the "Imperial Cathedral of Speyer". It was planned to be the largest cathedral worldwide. A display of the Emperor´s power, that was - before the "Investiture Controversy" - secular and ecclesiastical.

This "blueprint" from about 1025/1030 got changed later and the even enlarged cathedral was completed in 1106, the year Conrad´s grandson Emperor Henry IV died.


Looking up to the vault of the "double chapel", added to the cathedral to the south about 1050. The lower level, dedicated St. Martin and St. Emmeran, is a baptisterium now. The upper level, dedicated St. Catherine of Alexandria is used for displaying relics.

On the northern side of the cathedral is the chapel of St. Afra, now a tabernacel. Henry IV was buried in the unconsecrated chapel om 1106 to 1111, when Pope Paschalis II revoked the ban, which had been in effect since 1088.


As the history of the cathedral is really complex, I add the Wikipedia-links here:

english:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer_Cathedral
french:
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cath%C3%A9drale_Notre-Dame-de-l%27A...
german:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyerer_Dom

"Europaeische Stiftung Kaiserdom zu Speyer" has a very good website, but only in German:
www.dom-speyer.de/index.html