About this place
Rising above the vast Domplatz on a green mound, the Cathedral of Saint Mary forms half of Erfurt's unmistakable twin church silhouette, sharing the hill with the slender Church of Saint Severus. Worship has continued on this spot since the missionary bishop Saint Boniface founded a church here in 742, and the building grew over the medieval centuries from a Romanesque basilica into a lofty Gothic masterpiece. To push the choir out over the sloping hillside, its builders raised enormous artificial vaults known as the Kavaten. Inside glow celebrated choir windows nearly nineteen metres tall, filled with stained glass painted around 1400, while high in the tower hangs the Gloriosa, the world's largest free swinging medieval bell. It was in this cathedral that a young Martin Luther was ordained a priest in 1507, giving the church a lasting place in the story of the Reformation.
Key facts
- 742 AD — Saint Boniface founded the first church on the cathedral mound
- 11450 kilograms — Weight of the Gloriosa, the largest medieval bell still ringing in the world
- 70 steps — The grand stone staircase climbing from Domplatz to the two hilltop churches
📍 Severihof, 99084, Erfurt