St.-Paulus-Dom

About

Münster Cathedral or St.-Paulus-Dom is the cathedral church of the Catholic Diocese of Münster in Germany, and is dedicated to Saint Paul. It is counted among the most significant church buildings in Münster and, along with the City Hall, is one of the symbols of the city. The cathedral stands in the heart of the city, on a small hill called Horsteberg, which is encircled by the Roggenmarkt, Prinzipalmarkt and Rothenburg streets and by the Münstersche Aa river. This area, which also contains the Domplatz and surrounding buildings, was the old Domburg. Today the cathedral is the parish church for this area. West of the cathedral lies the bishop's palace and part of the old curia complex along with the current cathedral chapter. The cathedral had two predecessors. The first cathedral (called the Ludgerus Dom, 805–1377) stood to the north of the current cathedral; the second cathedral was built in the tenth or eleventh century and was demolished during the construction of the third and current cathedral between 1225 and 1264. The imposing westwerk with its nearly identical towers was built as part of the second cathedral around 1192 and was incorporated into the current building. As a...

The current St. Paulus Dom is, in fact, the third cathedral of the diocese of Münster. It was built between 1225 and 1264 and was preceded first by a Carolingian cathedral and second by an Ottonian cathedral.

An overview of the three cathedral buildings follows:

The first cathedral was created after the appointment of Liudger as Bishop of Münster in 805. It is therefore known as the Dom des heiligen Liudger or Ludgerus Dom.

It was long assumed that the first cathedral was a smaller church, especially because of the history of the foundation by Tibus. Only in 1904 did Savel suggest that the original cathedral was a three-naved basilica. He calculated its width using the northern stairs of the Domplatz and came to a figure of around 20 metres.

Further understanding was brought by the 1936 excavations by Wieschebrink, the director of the diocesan museum. These revealed that the first cathedral stood largely on the site of the later cloisters and Domherrenfriedhof. From the remains of the foundations, it was possible to conclude that the northern side aisle was about 8.3 meters wide, including the outer walls and foundations of the buttresses. Assuming that the nave was double the width of the side aisle (as usual in early medieval church buildings), the first cathedral would have been 27.6 metres wide in total. Based on the excavations, the length is estimated to have been 31.2 metres.

In the northwestern corner of the building, Wieschebrink found additional foundations of a rectangular wall, which were 2 metres thick – considerably thicker than the rest of the walls. From these remains he concluded that there had been a square tower with 8.3-metre-long (27 ft) edges.

The Ludgerus-Dom stood north of the current cathedral, roughly where the cloisters, Domherrenfriedhof, Marienkapelle and sacristry are located today. It was only demolished in the fourteenth century, well after the completion of the third cathedral. It, therefore, outlived the second, Ottonian cathedral entirely.

Until its demolition, the Ludgerus Dom remained largely unaltered. After the consecration of the second cathedral, it was left unused for almost a hundred years. At this time, part of the southwestern corner was demolished for the construction of a chapel, at the order of Bishop Dodo. Only with the foundation of the Collegiate Stift of the Old Dom by Bishop Burchard did the Ludgerus Dom regain a function: the chapter used it as a choir.

On 18 August 1377, Bishop Floris van Wevelinkhoven, the two churches side-by-side blocked the light and ordered the demolition of the Ludgerus Dom. After its demolition, the so-called "Alte Dom" was erected northwest of the original cathedral. This building replaced the Ludgerus Dom as the choir of the chapter.

The second cathedral was built immediately to the south of the first one. It was located on the site of the third and current cathedral.

The date of the second cathedral's construction is not certain.

Art historian Max Geisberg (1875–1943) argued that the second cathedral was built during the reign of Bishop Dodo between 967 and 993. This position was supported by the fact that other important cathedral buildings had a west transept already in the 10th and early 11th centuries. This transept was then reused in the construction of the third and current cathedral. In view of this presumed construction under the Ottonian dynasty, the second cathedral is referred to as the Ottonian cathedral.

The diocese of Münster assumed that the second cathedral was built in the second half of the eleventh century, in response to a fire in the first cathedral which apparently occurred in 1071. The Überwasserkirche only a few hundred metres away was similarly burnt down in the same fire. According to the diocese, the second cathedral was built between 1071 and 1090. The information of the diocese does not necessarily contradict Geisberg's conclusion since the diocese's claim is based on documentary information for the consecration of the second cathedral in 1090, which could have also occurred after a rebuild resulting from the fire.

The Ottonian cathedral was mostly demolished to build the third cathedral; today only fragments of the south wall of the side nave of the Ottonianbasilica survive.

The masonry of the western transept was also incorporated into the new building. To this day a large part of the west wall of the Ottonian transept survives (with the exception of the central portion, where the Old Choir was built around 1190), as well as parts of the south wall (which was incorporated into the northern interior wall of the " narthex "), much of the north wall and parts of the walls of the upper story on the east side.

No plans or depictions of the second cathedral survive from which the appearance of the second cathedral could be reconstructed. Since the modern "third" cathedral is located on the same spot as the second cathedral, excavations cannot be undertaken to determine its dimensions or appearance. Based on the surviving remnants of the walls it is only possible to determine the measurements of the Ottonian cathedral's western transept (c. 36.6 m from north to south and 12.4 m from east to west), the interior width of the side-aisle (c.6 m) and nave (c. 12 m), as well as the thickness of the exterior walls of the side-aisle (c.1 m) and the walls between the side-aisles and the nave (c.1.5 m). In total, therefore, the second cathedral appears to have been about 30 m wide.

The first cathedral was created after the appointment of Liudger as Bishop of Münster in 805. It is therefore known as the Dom des heiligen Liudger or Ludgerus Dom.

It was long assumed that the first cathedral was a smaller church, especially because of the history of the foundation by Tibus. Only in 1904 did Savel suggest that the original cathedral was a three-naved basilica. He calculated its width using the northern stairs of the Domplatz and came to a figure of around 20 metres.

Further understanding was brought by the 1936 excavations by Wieschebrink, the director of the diocesan museum. These revealed that the first cathedral stood largely on the site of the later cloisters and Domherrenfriedhof. From the remains of the foundations, it was possible to conclude that the northern side aisle was about 8.3 meters wide, including the outer walls and foundations of the buttresses. Assuming that the nave was double the width of the side aisle (as usual in early medieval church buildings), the first cathedral would have been 27.6 metres wide in total. Based on the excavations, the length is estimated to have been 31.2 metres.