Paderborn Cathedral (german: Paderborner Dom) is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

of the Catholic

Archdiocese of Paderborn The Archdiocese of Paderborn is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn.

. It is located in the city centre of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. The cathedral is dedicated to

Saint Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

Saint Kilian Kilian, also spelled Cillian or Killian (or alternatively ga, Cillín; la, Kilianus), was an Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia (Franconia is nowadays the northern part of Bavaria), where he began his labours in the latter h ...

and Saint Liborius. The official German name is ''Hoher Dom Ss. Maria, Liborius und Kilian''.

History

Previous structures

Today's cathedral is located in a position that has been occupied by churches for hundreds of years.

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

had a ''

Kaiserpfalz The term ''Kaiserpfalz'' (, "imperial palace") or ''Königspfalz'' (, "royal palace", from Middle High German ''phal ne'' to Old High German ''phalanza'' from Middle Latin ''palatia'' luralto Latin ''palatium'' "palace") refers to a number of ...

'' built near the sources of the Pader river. As early as 777 this palace had an attached church, dedicated to Christ (Salvator Mundi) and

Brigit of Kildare Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiogra ...

. This church, located north of today's cathedral, served as chapel to the court as well as a basis for missionary work among the Pagan

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

. Rebellious Saxons repeatedly destroyed this first church. After the locals converted to Christianity, the first cathedral was built.

Pope Leo III Pope Leo III (died 12 June 816) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position ...

met Charlemagne at Paderborn in 799 and consecrated an altar to

Saint Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

, depositing some relics of that saint in it. The first cathedral of the newly established bishopric was a three-aisled

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

, dedicated to Mary and

. After the See was initially administered from

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

, in 806 Hathumar became the first Bishop of Paderborn. The second bishop, Badurad, asked the Bishop of

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

for the remains of a saint, to help with consolidating the faith of the local Saxons. In 836, the remains of

Liborius of Le Mans Liborius of Le Mans (c. 348–397) was the second Bishop of Le Mans. He is the patron saint of the cathedral and archdiocese of Paderborn in Germany. The year of his birth is unknown; he died in 397, reputedly on 23 July. Le Mans and Paderborn As ...

were handed over to a delegation from Paderborn and

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

back to the cathedral. A fire destroyed the first cathedral in 1000 AD. Bishop Ratherius began with rebuilding, but his successor Meinwerk had the previous work destroyed and started over, building a three-aisled church with a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...

and

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a c ...

in the east. This (second) cathedral was consecrated in 1015, but destroyed in a city fire in 1058. Meinwerk's nephew, had the cathedral rebuilt on a significantly larger scale (third cathedral). This building, with two transepts, already was very similar to today's cathedral. Today's crypt was built around 1100 AD. Similarly, a chapel to St. Bartholomew, connected to the cathedral, would be built after 1015 by Greek monks.Krijna Nelly Ciggaar, ''Western Travellers to Constantinople: The West and Byzantium, 962-1204'', (E.J. Brill, 1996), 208. Another fire in 1133 damaged the church, but its core survived. Bernhard I. von Oesede had the building strengthened and extended (fourth cathedral); it was reconsecrated in 1144/45.

The current cathedral

In the 13th century, the cathedral was reconstructed, not due to damage but to bring it up to then current artistic and ecclesial standards. Construction likely began at the western end of the building (late Romanesque basilika, before 1220). The nave followed in the form of a

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

(i.e. with three aisles all reaching to the height of the central roof) in early

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. It was completed in the late 13th century with High Gothic elements. In the 17th century, Prince-Bishops Dietrich Adolf von der Recke (1601-1661) and Ferdinand von Fürstenberg (1626–1683) replaced the Gothic interior features with

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

artworks. In 1930, the Diocese of Paderborn was promoted to

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

. Repeated Allied bombing of Paderborn in 1945 resulted in severe damage to the cathedral and the loss of irreplaceable works of art, including all the historic glass windows. On 22 March 1945, fourteen people were killed by a

blockbuster bomb A blockbuster bomb or cookie was one of several of the largest conventional bombs used in World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The term ''blockbuster'' was originally a name coined by the press and referred to a bomb which had enough explo ...

in the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

. Reconstruction took until the 1950s. From 1978 to 1981, a major restoration was undertaken.

Architecture

External dimensions

* Length: 104 m * Width: 52 m * Height: 28 m * Height of the western tower: 93 m

Points of interest

* ''Paradiesportal'' (Paradise Portal), from the first third of the 13th century. It combines late Romanesque and early Gothic statuary. *

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning " pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific for ...

, from around 1360, probably made in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

. * Alabaster relief showing the veneration of the

Magi Magi (; singular magus ; from Latin '' magus'', cf. fa, مغ ) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius t ...

, made in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

c. 1360. * ''Doppelmadonna'' (Double Madonna), hanging from the ceiling in the nave, from round 1480. * ''Reliquienrentabel'', the former

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

high altar (made circa 1420 from light sandstone and designed to hold the St. Libori reliquary shrine, which was stolen in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

) was replaced in the 17th century by a Baroque high altar (destroyed 1945). It is now once again located in the cathedral's choir. * Tomb of Bishop Rotho (in office 1036–51), circa 1460. * ''Margarethenaltar'', the only remaining medieval wooden

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structure ...

, painted by (c. 1465–1521). * Tomb of Prince-Bishop Dietrich IV von Fürstenberg (d. 1618), a

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

work made of black and white stone, rising almost 18 m. *

Pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

Régence The ''Régence'' (, ''Regency'') was the period in French history between 1715 and 1723 when King Louis XV was considered a minor and the country was instead governed by Philippe d'Orléans (a nephew of Louis XIV of France) as prince regen ...

style, white and gold (1736), gifted on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the translation of Saint Liborius. * The baptismal font dates only from 1924, but the Mannerist screen surrounding it is from the 17th century.

Crypt

The

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

of Saint Liborius are kept in the three-aisled

, which is (with a length of 32 m) one of Germany's largest crypts. Towards the west are the tombs of the Archbishops of Paderborn. An antechamber features a 1935 mosaic on the walls and ceiling and in the centre of the floor the tombstone for Bishop Meinwerk, dating to the 13th century.

Window of Three Hares (''Dreihasenfenster'')

One of the cathedral's, and the city's, most recognisable features is the ''Dreihasenfenster'' ("Window of Three Hares"). It depicts

three hares The three hares (or three rabbits) is a circular motif or meme appearing in sacred sites from East Asia, the Middle East and to the churches of Devon, England (as the " Tinners' Rabbits"), and historical synagogues in Europe. It is used as an a ...

in motion, arranged in a triangle. Each hare is shown as having two ears, although only three ears are visible in total. The original 16th century carving can be found in the

's inner courtyard, and has been duplicated on numerous buildings and a number of shops throughout the city centre.

Burials

Lorenz Jaeger Lorenz Jaeger (23 September 1892 – 1 April 1975) was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, who served as Archbishop of Paderborn from 1941 to 1973, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965. Biography Lorenz Jaeger was born in ...

Bernard V of Lippe Bernhard of Lippe (1277-1341) was a German nobleman. He was Prince-Bishop of Paderborn as Bernard V. He is considered the founder of the medieval Prince-bishopric. His territoriality focused policies are characterized by the fact that he was ...

References

External links

Virtueller Rundgang durch den Paderborner Dom

Virtual tour of Paderborn Cathedral

Paderborn City website: Cathedral

Paderborn City website: Eine „Hasengeschichte“ [Story of the Hares]
(PDF; 213 kB)
Church service regulation
{{Authority control Towers completed in the 12th century Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Roman Catholic cathedrals in North Rhine-Westphalia Paderborn Buildings and structures in Paderborn (district)