Dom zu Worms

The St Peter's Dom is a church in Worms, southern Germany. The Dom is located on the highest point of the inner city of Worms and is the most important building of the romanesque style in Worms. It is closely associated with Bishop Burchard and the high point of Worms' history in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was the seat of the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Worms until its extinction in 1800. It is a basilica with four round towers, two large domes, and a choir at each end. The interior is built in red sandstone. Today, the Wormser Dom is a Catholic parish church, honoured with the title of Minor Basilica. 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 vaulting 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 salvation stories appear above the Gothic-era south doorway. The baptismal font contains five remarkable stone reliefs from the late 15th century. The church's original windows were destroyed by the Oppau explosion on 21. September 1921 and allied bomb raids during 1943 and on 21. February and 18. March 1945; between 1965 and 1995 Mainz artist Alois Plum crafted new windows. The Dom is 110 m long, and 27 m wide. The transepts, near the west end, extend to 36 m . The height in the nave is 26 m and the interior of the domes are 40 m. Great events associated with the Dom include the nomination of Leo IX as Pope in 1048, the Concordat of Worms which ended the Investiture controversy in 1122, the marriage of Emperor Frederick II to Isabella of England in 1235 and the Diet of Worms in 1521, during which Martin Luther was condemned as a heretic. Until the secularisation of the Hochstift and Diocese of Worms, the church was the cathedral of the bishop of Worms. After 1802, St Peter's Dom was reduced to a parish church, but in memory of its earlier importance as the seat of a bishop, it was made a praeposit church by Pope Pius IX in 1862 and a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1925. These papal honours, which include privileges for the provost and the church building, are meant to highlight the importance of the church to its surrounding region. The Dom was built from 1130 to 1181, replacing an early romanesque basilica from the first quarter of the 11th century. According to the most recent research, the building may have begun around 1105 with the sanctuary and transept.The New Synagogue of Strasbourg, built by Ludwig Levy from 1895–1898 and destroyed in 1940–1941, was modelled on St Peter's Dom.
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