Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Speyer, Germany


During our last full day in Germany a few weeks ago our friend Isolde took us to the historic town of Speyer.  The main attraction in Speyer is the Speyer Cathedral, otherwise known as the "Kaiserdom."  Begun in 1030, the cathedral changed in architecture over the centuries, but it always maintained a symbol of Germanic power over the ages...and is still considered a symbol of European architecture.  At one point in fact it was the largest Romanesque building in Europe.  It gets its nickname from the fact that many German emperors were crowned here.  Also, the crypt below houses the graves of 8 German emperors.  Walking through the crypt was an amazing experience.  Anyway, we continued on through the town a bit, and saw more old buildings and churches.  We only spent about half a day in Speyer, but we enjoyed it.  And the "Kaiserdom" is definitely one of the most beautiful churches we've seen so far in Europe.  Simply incredible!
































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