Domplatz (Cathedral Square)
About This Site
The Domplatz is Erfurt's cathedral square and its great open room: more than 14,000 square metres of paving, the largest square in the city.[1] On its western side a flight of 70 steps climbs to the Domberg, where the cathedral of St. Mary and the church of St. Severus stand side by side;[2] around the rest of it run half-timbered burghers' houses, the Renaissance inn Zur Hohen Lilie and a neo-Gothic court building, with the Erthal obelisk and the Minerva fountain out on the stones. It is still the city's main market six mornings a week, the ground of Thuringia's largest Christmas market and, every summer, the setting of open-air opera and musicals on the cathedral steps. With its coach parking and the underground garage below the Petersberg, it is where most visitors meet Erfurt first.[3]
A market before the steps, 12th century–1293
The southern part of today's square began as marshy ground crossed by an arm of the Gera; drained in the 12th century, it became a market, and a document of 1293 names it ante gradus — before the steps up to the cathedral. Later known as the Großer Markt, it lay close to where the via regia crossed an old north–south trade road, and salt, timber and leather changed hands here. Under the rule of the Archbishops of Mainz it was also the city's public place of justice.[4]
The Erthal obelisk and the Minerva fountain, 1777–1992
In 1777 the city and its citizens raised the Erthal obelisk on the square to mark the first stay of their sovereign, the Elector and Archbishop of Mainz Friedrich Josef von Erthal.[5] It was renewed in 1899 for a visit of Emperor Wilhelm II.[4] In 1784 the Minerva fountain followed at the south-west corner, near the great cathedral stairway: crowned by Minerva, protector of cities, it is Erfurt's oldest surviving fountain and the last of 53 public running fountains that once supplied the town with drinking water. The restored Minerva was handed back to the people of Erfurt in 1992.[5]
The siege that opened up the square, 1813–1945
On 6 November 1813 the allied bombardment of the French-held fortress on the Petersberg badly damaged the quarter on the northern part of the square.[5] The Severi quarter was never rebuilt, and the Domplatz has been far larger ever since; the Prussian garrison used the new space as a drill and parade ground. The old market still shows in the paving: basalt on the original part, which belongs to the church, concrete setts where the lost quarter stood, which belongs to the city.[4] On 4 April 1823, for the visit of King Friedrich Wilhelm III, the square was named Friedrich-Wilhelms-Platz; it has been the Domplatz since 1945.[5]
Steps, citadel and house rows, 1538–1879
The 70 Domstufen that lead up to the two churches have had their present form since the middle of the 19th century, and the Petersberg citadel rises right beside the square to the north-west.[4] Below the Petersberg stands the neo-Gothic court building of 1874–1879; from there the square is framed by burghers' houses, most of them half-timbered on very narrow, deep plots. Architecturally the most notable are the Grüne Apotheke of the 18th century and the Haus zur Hohen Lilie of 1538, one of the best works of Erfurt's Renaissance builders. On the eastern side the Marktstraße, once part of the via regia and the street of traders and merchants, opens into the square and leads on into the old town.[3]
Zur Hohen Lilie, 1341–2002
The inn Zur Hohen Lilie, first recorded in 1341, is one of the oldest inns in Europe. During the Swedish occupation of 1631–1635, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden took his quarters here, and on 9 September 2002 the house reopened after eleven years closed.[5] Behind its Renaissance front at Domplatz 31 two linguists of European rank were born: Hiob Ludolf, founder of German African studies and author of an Ethiopic grammar, and his son Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf, founder of German studies of Russia and author of a Russian grammar (1696).[6]
A stage for the city, 1989–2011
On 26 October 1989, after prayers for peace in the churches, tens of thousands of people gathered on the Domplatz to demand immediate democratic renewal, and the Thursday demonstrations that followed pressed ever further; on 9 November the news that the border had opened reached many of them during the demonstration on the square. In July 1999, 1,700 choir singers opened the multimedia production Sommer-Nacht-Traum here, a project within Erfurt's regional contribution to Weimar's year as European City of Culture. In September 2011 Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass on an altar stage built on the square.[5]
Still the main market, 12th century to today
Every day except Sunday, from around five in the morning, growers and traders from the surrounding country set up their stalls with produce, plants, flowers and snacks,[1] and the weekly market fills the square with regional food, cheese, honey and organic produce, joined three days a week by stalls of household goods and textiles.[7] A three-day flower and garden market arrives in spring,[1] the Martini festival on 10 and 11 November honours both St. Martin and Martin Luther[4] — in 1995 some 60,000 people opened the Luther year 1996 here, on the 450th anniversary of his death[5] — and in Advent the Erfurt Christmas Market, the largest in Thuringia, spreads out below the churches with traditional crafts, Thuringian specialities, a great Christmas pyramid, a nativity house and a fairy-tale forest.[8]
The DomStufen-Festspiele, 1994 to today
Occasional theatre on the cathedral steps is documented since the Middle Ages, and in 1994, on the initiative of its general director Dietrich Taube, Theater Erfurt founded the DomStufen-Festspiele, opening with Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Every summer since, the 70 steps below the cathedral and St. Severus have become an opera or musical stage; under Guy Montavon the festival has staged grand opera and musicals since 2002, and since 2009 the DOMINO performances bring the steps to the youngest audiences.[9] Hundreds of thousands of visitors have come so far.[10]
Questions visitors ask
- Where is the Domplatz?
- At the foot of the Domberg with the cathedral and St. Severus, with the Petersberg citadel beside it to the north-west; the Marktstraße leads from its eastern side into the rest of the old town. Coach parking and the underground garage below the Petersberg make it the first stop for most visitors.[3]
- How do I get from the Domplatz up to the cathedral?
- By the Domstufen, the broad flight of 70 steps on the western side of the square, which leads up to the cathedral of St. Mary and the church of St. Severus.[2]
- Which markets are held on the Domplatz?
- The weekly market, Monday to Saturday, with regional produce, plants and flowers; a three-day flower and garden market in spring; the Martini festival on 10 and 11 November; and in Advent the Erfurt Christmas Market, the largest in Thuringia.[8]
- What are the DomStufen-Festspiele?
- Theater Erfurt's summer festival, founded in 1994: every year an opera or musical is staged on the 70 cathedral steps below the cathedral and St. Severus.[9]
- What are the obelisk and the fountain on the square?
- The Erthal obelisk was raised by the city and its citizens in 1777 for the first stay of the Elector of Mainz Friedrich Josef von Erthal; the Minerva fountain of 1784, at the south-west corner, is Erfurt's oldest surviving fountain.[5]
- How is the Domplatz connected to Weimar?
- In July 1999, when Weimar was European City of Culture, 1,700 choir singers opened the multimedia production Sommer-Nacht-Traum on the Domplatz as part of Erfurt's regional contribution to the year.[5]
Connected Historical Figures
reformer • theologian • preacher
The Martini festival on the square every 10 and 11 November honours St. Martin and Martin Luther, and in 1995 it opened the Luther year 1996 here before some 60,000 people.
Sources (10)
- Domplatz — Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Cathedral of St. Mary — Erfurt Tourismus & Marketing GmbH, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Domplatz: Architektur und Geschichte — Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Domplatz (Erfurt) — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Domplatz: Chronologie/Historie — Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Gasthaus „Zur Hohen Lilie“ – Domplatz 31 — Literaturland Thüringen (Thüringer Literaturrat), retrieved 13 September 2026
- Erfurter Wochenmarkt Domplatz — Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Erfurter Weihnachtsmarkt — Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Geschichte — DomStufen-Festspiele in Erfurt 1994–2025 — Theater Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- DomStufen-Festspiele in Erfurt — Theater Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
Visit Information
Weekly market Monday to Saturday, 6:30 am to 2 pm; household goods and textiles on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Domplatz, Erfurt
50.9769, 11.0239
In the history of Erfurt
Historic sites
Domstufen 1, 99084 Erfurt
The cathedral stands above the western side of the square, reached from it by the 70 Domstufen.
Severihof 2, 99084 Erfurt
St. Severus stands beside the cathedral above the square; its quarter was destroyed in 1813 and never rebuilt, since when the square has been far larger.
Petersberg 3, 99084 Erfurt
The bombardment of the Petersberg fortress in November 1813 destroyed the quarter on the northern part of the square, which has been open ground ever since.
Around Weimar
20 km West
Erfurt's largest square, below the cathedral hill: the city's main market, its Christmas market and the stage of the DomStufen-Festspiele.