Dom St. Marien
About This Site
The Dom St. Marien is the most important and oldest church in Erfurt: 81.26 metres high, it holds in the Gloriosa the largest freely swinging medieval bell in the world.[1] A flight of 70 steps leads up from the Domplatz to the hill it shares with St. Severus; with its high Gothic choir, Romanesque towers and late Gothic hall it succeeds the church Rome called for in 724 and was the principal church of the bishopric Boniface founded in 742.[2] A collegiate church through the Middle Ages, it has been the cathedral of the re-founded diocese of Erfurt since 1994.[3]
Boniface and the first bishopric, 724–754
In 724 Pope Gregory II called on the Thuringians to build a house for Boniface, who was preaching among them, and the request is said to have been met in 725;[3] in the city's own account, the church Boniface had built on the Domberg around 725 is the predecessor of today's cathedral.[1] In 741 or 742 Boniface asked Pope Zacharias to confirm a bishopric at the place called Erphesfurt, and this first mention is taken as the founding date of the city. Within a few years, at the latest after Boniface, Adalar and Eoban were martyred in Frisia in 754, the bishopric was merged into the diocese of Mainz.[3] The church of the first Thuringian bishop stood on the site of today's cathedral, and its importance remained after the see was given up.[4]
A late Romanesque basilica, 1117–1237
St. Marien is first recorded in 1117.[3] In 1154 building began on a late Romanesque basilica with a three-aisled nave, a transept and two towers on its east side.[1] Work went quickly: two burials found that year were identified as the holy bishops Adolar and Eoban, and the gifts that followed helped pay for the building. By 1170 the church was in use, for in that year Emperor Frederick Barbarossa knighted Ludwig III, son of the Thuringian landgrave, there. A consecration is recorded for 20 June 1182; the south tower was finished in 1201 and the north tower in 1237.[3] The chapel on the first floor of the north tower was in use by about 1160, and the relics of Eoban and Adelar were probably first kept there, which would make it the oldest chapel in Erfurt.[5]
The Wolfram, the Madonna and the fall of 1184
The two oldest furnishings of the cathedral both date from around 1160. The Wolfram is a bronze candle-bearer, probably cast in the Magdeburg foundry and one of the oldest free-standing bronze sculptures in Germany; an inscription on its belt names the donor Wolfram and his wife Hiltiburc. Beside it stands the Romanesque Madonna in stucco. In 1184, during a court diet of King Henry VI, floors of the provost's house gave way, and about sixty of those present, many of them nobles, died falling through two storeys into the latrine pit beneath.[3]
The High Choir on its vaults, 1280s–1372
With more than a hundred clergy at services, and up to three hundred on feast days, the church needed a larger, lighter choir. A first extension was consecrated in 1290 and the central tower finished before 1307. By 1329 massive substructures, the Kavaten, had been built to extend the hill artificially eastwards; the lower church inside them was consecrated in 1353, and the High Choir, resumed in 1349, was consecrated by a suffragan bishop in office between 1370 and 1372.[3] It is a single-aisled high Gothic hall raised fifteen metres above the Domplatz on three cellar levels.[1] Around 1330 the triangular portal porch on the north transept became the main entrance, carved with the twelve apostles and the wise and foolish virgins between Ecclesia and Synagoga, so that visitors approach the cathedral from the north-east.[3]
Stained glass and choir stalls, 1329–1420
The fifteen choir windows, 18.6 metres high, hold a late Gothic cycle of stained glass made between about 1370 and 1420, one of the largest of its kind in Germany: thirteen windows are almost wholly medieval, and 895 of some 1,100 panes are original. They tell of the Creation and the Passion, the patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and Joseph, the apostles and the saints Catherine, Eustace, Boniface and Helena.[3] The cathedral's glass also includes five windows by Charles Crodel from 1960 to 1962.[6] The oak for the choir stalls was felled in 1329; with 89 seats they are among the most extensive and best preserved medieval stalls in Germany,[3] and pupils and teachers of the cathedral school once sat in them during services.[1]
The Gloriosa, 1251–1497
The great bell was first consecrated in 1251 and recast several times.[1] The Gloriosa of today was cast by Gerhard van Wou of Kampen in the Netherlands in the night of 7 to 8 July 1497, above the Domstufen; it weighs 11,450 kilograms, hangs in the lower bell chamber of the central tower, and whenever it rings it sounds first, with every other bell in Erfurt joining in after it.[3] The cathedral's ringing order for 2026 lists nine occasions, among them Easter Sunday, the patronal feast of the Assumption on 15 August and the eve of St Martin's Day on 10 November.[7]
Late Gothic nave and baroque high altar, 1455–1707
In 1455 the Romanesque nave was pulled down and a late Gothic hall church begun, evidently to gain room for the congregation, with the townspeople contributing much of the cost; by around 1465 it was in use again.[3] In 1507 the Augustinian friar Martin Luther was ordained a priest, probably in the cathedral's Kilian chapel.[8] The High Choir and this nave still serve the services of the bishop, the cathedral chapter, the congregation and the diocese.[1] Between 1697 and 1707 the woodcarver Johann Andreas Gröber made the baroque high altar, 16.5 metres high and 13 metres wide, a sign of the Archbishop of Mainz's rule over Erfurt in the Counter-Reformation; its lower painting, an Adoration of the Magi after Rubens, is by Jakob Samuel Beck.[3]
Fortress, parish church, cathedral, 1792–1994
In the Napoleonic wars the Domberg became a fortress and French troops used the cathedral as a stable; the bombardment of 1813 destroyed all the dense housing around the Domplatz. The chapter was dissolved in 1803 and finally in 1837, and restoration under Prussian rule began in 1828.[3] On the new neo-Gothic gable a mosaic of the Madonna and Child, 6.13 by 8.63 metres, designed by August Theodor Kaselowsky and made in Antonio Salviati's Venice workshop, was finished in July 1870; taken down with the roof in 1968, its 133 panels have been on show inside the nave roof since 2019.[9] The cathedral escaped direct hits in the Second World War, and in 1994 the former collegiate church became the cathedral of the restored diocese of Erfurt.[3]
The steps and a visit, today
The broad Domstufen show how closely the two churches on the hill belong to the life of the town below.[4] Outside services the cathedral is open for prayer and visits, from April to October Monday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, from November to March until 5 pm, and on Sundays and holidays from 1 to 5 pm.[10] The cathedral staff give guided tours, including a daily tour for individual visitors at 2 pm for up to fifteen people;[11] the treasury is shown on booked tours on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 3 pm,[12] and from April to October small groups climb the tower to the Gloriosa.[13]
Questions visitors ask
- When was the Dom St. Marien built?
- The basilica was begun in 1154 and the High Choir, raised fifteen metres above the Domplatz, was finished around 1370 to 1372; the late Gothic nave followed from 1455.[1]
- What is the Gloriosa?
- The cathedral's great bell, cast by Gerhard van Wou in the night of 7 to 8 July 1497 above the Domstufen: at 11,450 kilograms the largest freely swinging medieval bell in the world. It rings on a few feast days a year.[3][7]
- How tall is Erfurt Cathedral?
- 81.26 metres.[1]
- Is there an older church on the same site?
- Yes. Boniface had a church built on the Domberg around 725, and the church of the bishopric he founded in 742 stood where the cathedral stands today.[1][4]
- What should I look for inside?
- The Gothic choir windows, the fourteenth-century choir stalls and the Romanesque figures of an enthroned Madonna and a monumental candle-bearer, the Wolfram.[2]
- When is the cathedral open, and can I climb to the Gloriosa?
- From April to October Monday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, from November to March until 5 pm, Sundays and holidays 1 to 5 pm. Tower tours to the Gloriosa run from April to October, except on the first weekend of the month, for up to fifteen people who book by phone.[10][13]
Sources (13)
- Dom — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Dom St. Marien — Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Erfurter Dom — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Zur Geschichte des Erfurter Domes — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Der Glasmalereibestand des Erfurter Domes — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Läuteordnung der Gloriosa 2026 — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Martin Luther — Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Marienmosaik — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Öffnungszeiten der Hohen Domkirche St. Marien — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Führungen — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Führung in der Domschatzkammer — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Turm- und Glockenführungen — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
Visit Information
Guided tours: cathedral 8 euros (reduced 6), bell tour 8 euros (reduced 6), treasury 8 euros, St. Severus 7 euros, school classes 3 euros per person.
April–October: Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sundays and holidays 13:00–17:00. November–March: Mon–Sat 10:00–17:00, Sundays and holidays 13:00–17:00. Open for visits outside services.
Domstufen 1, 99084 Erfurt
In the history of Erfurt
Historic sites
Augustinerstraße 10, 99084 Erfurt
Luther, a friar of this monastery, was ordained a priest in 1507, probably in the Kilian chapel at the cathedral, before celebrating his first mass in the Augustinerkirche.
Domplatz, Erfurt
The cathedral stands above the western side of the square, reached from it by the 70 Domstufen.
Severihof 2, 99084 Erfurt
Its neighbour on the Domberg, with which it forms Erfurt's landmark; the two chapters settled a boundary quarrel between the churches in 1387, and the Severikirche's bell Vincentia was cast in 1497 together with the cathedral's Gloriosa.
Around Weimar
20 km West
The cathedral on the Domberg above the Domplatz, 81.26 metres high, with its Gothic choir windows and the Gloriosa, the largest freely swinging medieval bell in the world.