Severikirche
About This Site
The Severikirche stands on the Domberg directly beside Erfurt Cathedral, and together the two churches form the landmark of the city; it is one of the few five-aisled Gothic hall churches in Germany.[1] Built from the 1270s on a Romanesque ground plan, it counts among the first hall churches of central Germany, and the bones of its patron, Severus of Ravenna, rest in a sarcophagus of great artistic importance.[2] Inside also stand a stone Madonna of 1345 and a baptismal font of 1467, fifteen metres high.[3]
St Paul's and the relics of St Severus, 708–935
An older church of St Paul stood on the site; excavations directly north of the church in 1960 and 1961 found no remains of it, so when and by whom it was founded is unknown, though some still trace it to Boniface. A Benedictine monastery of St Paul is said to have been founded in 708. In 836 Archbishop Otgar of Mainz had the bones of St Severus of Ravenna brought to Erfurt, and the relics mattered so much that the foundation was renamed St. Severi; according to uncertain records a collegiate chapter was founded there in 935.[2] The city's own account gives the tradition of a Benedictine nunnery on the site in 836 and the chapter of canons around 935, and the parish too calls St. Severi originally the church of a Benedictine convent.[1][4]
Fire and a second chapter on the hill, 1079–1148
The church appears again in 1079 and 1080, when Henry IV took Erfurt and the churches were set on fire together with the people who had fled into them; the church called the Hohes Münster was pulled down and rebuilt, smaller, on the same spot. The chapter of canons at St. Severi is first recorded in 1121, a second collegiate chapter on the Domberg beside St. Marien. Before 1123 Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz built a bishop's residence east of the church, the Krummhaus. In 1142 fire destroyed the church and chapter, the bishop's castle and St Peter's monastery on the Petersberg; the church was repaired and consecrated again in 1148. Its Romanesque plan, a basilica with two transepts and two choirs, the east choir flanked by two towers, can still be read in today's building.[2]
A five-aisled hall ahead of its time, 1238–1370
A new building was planned by 1238 but begun only in the 1270s; the numerous indulgences granted for it report its progress and show that it was meant to impress. The new high altar was consecrated in 1308, when at least the choir and the east transept stood; the nave is said to have been finished in 1327 and the whole church largely five years later, and the vaults were complete around 1370.[2] The result is a four-bay, five-aisled hall with transepts in the east and west.[1] A second aisle added on each side gave the church the full width of its transepts, and the vaults seem at first glance to be of one height: on a Romanesque plan, in high Gothic times, a building arose that anticipated the late Gothic hall churches of the fifteenth century.[2]
Chapels and a quarrel over a boundary, 1358–1429
Between 1358 and 1363 the single-storey Blasius chapel was built on the south side. Its buttresses reached onto the ground of St. Marien, and in the 1370s and 1380s the two chapters quarrelled over it and over the line between the two churches, at times with their fists, until the matter was settled amicably in 1387: the chapel was to be altered and the boundary marked with boundary stones, which was done before 1429. The two-storey Lady Chapel on the north side was probably built together with the church and the porch of the main portal, whose Virgin and Child dates from 1360 to 1370.[2]
Sarcophagus, Madonna and font, 1345–1467
The Severi sarcophagus of around 1360 in the south aisle is among the greatest achievements of fourteenth-century German sculpture; its side panels show scenes from the life of St Severus, and its lid now serves as an altarpiece in the front aisle.[1] The parish adds that Severus's wife Vincentia and daughter Innocentia are buried in the sarcophagus with him.[4] The stone Madonna dates from 1345.[3] The baptismal font, completed in 1467, is a masterpiece of craftsmanship whose carved tracery rises fifteen metres.[1] An alabaster relief of the Archangel Michael, dated 1467 on its scroll by an unnamed sculptor, has hung on the south wall of the east transept since 1938.[2]
After the fire of 1472: roof, towers and bells, 1472–1510
The great city fire of 19 June 1472 struck St. Severi hard, damaging its bell towers, bells, organs, all its roofs, the west choir with the cloister and parts of the vaults. By around 1500 the damage was repaired: the huge hipped roof over the whole nave dates from 1472 and 1473, the two square towers beside the choir were rebuilt and received their slender spires in 1495, and the spire of the raised central tower is dated 1494, giving the east end its group of three towers. In place of the west choir a two-storey annex with a Cross chapel was finished by 1495. The late Gothic Lady altar of 1510 in the north aisle, attributed to the Saalfeld school, shows the enthroned Virgin between St Barbara and St Catherine.[2] Among the bells hangs the Vincentia, cast in 1497 by Gerhard van Wou together with the cathedral's famous Gloriosa.[4]
Swedes, Napoleon and restoration, 1633–1995
In 1633 Swedish troops occupied the church and handed it to the Protestants, who altered the interior; in 1635 it was returned to the Catholics and the changes undone, and in the 1670s the woodcarver Johann Andreas Gröber made its baroque high altar. The chapter was dissolved in 1803. In 1811, under Napoleon's Imperial Domain of Erfurt, the church was advertised for sale for demolition; no buyer came forward, and so it survived. In 1813 and 1814 the French used it as a military hospital during an outbreak of typhus. Restoration began in 1834 with the Lady Chapel and in 1845 with the whole church. Air mines and shelling in 1944 and 1945 destroyed the roofs and all the stained glass; the roof and the interior were restored in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the south-west cloister from 1993 to 1995. The organ was built in 1930 by Johannes Klais in Johann Friedrich Wender's baroque case of 1714.[2]
A church of the city parish, today
St. Severi is today one of the churches of the inner-city parish of St. Laurentius; Sunday mass is usually at 9.30 am, and the Lady Chapel, redesigned in 2008, is a room of silence for prayer and meditation.[4] The church is open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and on Sundays and holidays from 1 to 6 pm, and the cathedral staff also offer guided tours of St. Severi.[5] Admission is free.[3]
Questions visitors ask
- When was the Severikirche built?
- The present five-aisled hall was begun in the 1270s on a Romanesque plan; its high altar was consecrated in 1308 and its vaults were complete around 1370. After the city fire of 1472 the roof and the three east towers were rebuilt by 1495.[2]
- What makes the church's architecture unusual?
- It is one of the few five-aisled Gothic hall churches in Germany, and one of the first hall churches in central Germany: built in high Gothic times, it anticipated the late Gothic hall churches of the fifteenth century.[1][2]
- Who is buried in the Severi sarcophagus?
- St Severus of Ravenna, whose relics came to Erfurt in 836; the parish adds his wife Vincentia and daughter Innocentia. The sarcophagus of around 1360 is among the greatest works of fourteenth-century German sculpture.[4][1]
Sources (5)
- Severikirche — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Severikirche (Erfurt) — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- St. Severi — Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH, retrieved 13 September 2026
- St. Severi Kirche — Katholische Innenstadtpfarrei St. Laurentius Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Öffnungszeiten der Hohen Domkirche St. Marien — Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
Visit Information
Free admission. Guided tour of St. Severus through the cathedral information, 7 euros per person.
Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sundays and holidays 13:00–18:00.
Severihof 2, 99084 Erfurt
In the history of Erfurt
Historic sites
Domplatz, 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.
Domstufen 1, 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
One of the two churches on Erfurt's Domberg, a five-aisled Gothic hall church with the sarcophagus of St Severus and a font fifteen metres high.