St. Severus Church (Severikirche)
A soaring Gothic hall church of three pointed spires standing shoulder to shoulder with the cathedral on Erfurt's Domberg. Inside waits one of the tallest baptismal canopies in Germany, a slender tower of carved stone that almost brushes the vault.
About this place
Perched beside St. Mary's Cathedral above the grand staircase of the Domplatz, St. Severus Church forms half of Erfurt's most famous skyline, its trio of dark spires answering the cathedral's single tower across the hill. A Benedictine community is said to have settled here as early as 708 under the patronage of Saint Paul, but the church took the name Severus in 836, when the Archbishop of Mainz had the bones of Saint Severus of Ravenna carried north and enshrined on this rise. The building you see today is a rare five-aisled Gothic hall church, its interior unusually wide and light-filled for its modest footprint, a form so forward-looking that art historians count it among the most important Gothic works in Germany. Fire, war, and centuries of restoration have all left their marks, yet the church still guards its two great treasures: the pink sandstone sarcophagus of Saint Severus and a fifteen-metre baptismal canopy that reaches like frozen lace toward the ceiling.
Key facts
- 15 metres — The soaring Gothic canopy over the baptismal font, carved in 1467, nearly touches the vault
- 836 year — The bones of Saint Severus of Ravenna were brought here, giving the church its name
- 5 aisles — A rare five-aisled hall church, wide and light despite its compact size
📍 Severihof 2, 99084, Erfurt