Speyer Tourist Attractions

The six-towered Speyer Cathedral (Dom) of St Mary and St Stephen, the largest and most imposing cathedral of the High Romanesque period in Germany, was begun about 1030 by the Salian emperor Conrad II and consecrated in 1061. Between 1082 and 1125, in the reigns of Henry IV and V, a major rebuilding took place.In the west porch are statues of the eight emperors and kings buried in the Cathedral.Features of the interior are the raised Royal Choir, the crypt (consecrated 1039) and the imperial burial vault, with the remains of the imperial tombs, some of which were plundered by the French in 1689. Among them are the tombs of Conrad II (d. 1039), Henry III (d. 1056), Henry IV (d. 1106), Henry V (d. 1125) and Rudolph of Habsburg (d. 1291).In front of the Cathedral can be seen the Domnapf, a huge sandstone basin (1490) which was filled at the induction of a new bishop.

To the south of the Speyer Cathedral is the Historical Museum of the Palatinate, with an outstanding collection of material from ancient, medieval and modern times. It also includes the Diocesan Museum.

At the end of the Judenbadgasse in Speyer, in a little garden almost 10m/33ft below ground level, is the Jews' Bath (Judenbad; c. 1100), belonging to a synagogue that once stood here.

Southwest of the Judenbad in Speyer, at Allerheiligenstrasse 9, stands the house in which the painter Anselm Feuerbach was born in 1829 (memorial museum; changing exhibitions).

From the Cathedral Maximilianstrasse, Speyer's wide main street runs west to the Altpörtel, a handsome gate-tower of the 13th and 16th centuries (interior open to the public).

In the northwest of Speyer, near the railroad station (Bahnhof), is St Bernard's Church, the Peace Church, built jointly by Frenchmen and Germans in 1953-54.