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Cathedral of Magdeburg

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   View of Magdeburg with the cathedral on the right.
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   View of Magdeburg with the cathedral on the right.

   The Cathedral of Magdeburg, officially called the Cathedral of Saints
   Catherine and Maurice (known as Magdeburger Dom in German) was the
   first Gothic cathedral in Germany and with a height of 99,25 and 100,98
    m, it is the tallest cathedral in the former East Germany. The
   cathedral is in Magdeburg, the capital city of the Bundesland of
   Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and is also home to the grave of Otto I the
   Great.

   The first church built in 937 at the location of the current cathedral
   was an abbey called St. Maurice, dedicated to Saint Maurice. The
   current cathedral was constructed over the period of 300 years starting
   from 1209, and the completion of the steeples took place only in 1520.
   Despite being repeatedly looted, the Cathedral of Magdeburg is rich in
   art, ranging from antiques to modern art.

History

Previous building

   Tomb of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.
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   Tomb of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.

   The first church was founded September 21, 937 at the location of the
   current cathedral was an abbey called St. Maurice (St. Moritz),
   dedicated to Saint Maurice and financed by Emperor Otto I the Great.
   Otto wanted to demonstrate his political power after the successful
   Battle of Lechfeld in 955, and ordered the construction even before his
   coronation as Emperor on February 2, 962. Furthermore, to support his
   claim as successor of the Emperor of the Weströmisches Reich, he
   obtained a large number of antiques – for example, pillars to be used
   for the construction of the church. Many of those antiques were
   subsequently used for the second church in 1209. The church had most
   likely one nave with four aisles, a width of 41 meters and a length of
   80 meters. The height is estimated as up to 60 meters.

   The wife of Otto, Queen Editha, was buried in the church after her
   death in 946. The church was expanded in 955. Hence, the church became
   a cathedral. In 968, Emperor Otto I selected Magdeburg as the seat of
   an archdiocese with Adalbert von Trier as archbishop, even though the
   city was not centrally located but at the eastern border of his
   kingdom. He did this because he planned to expand his kingdom, and also
   Christianity, to the east into what is nowadays Slovakia. This plan,
   however, failed. Emperor Otto I died soon thereafter in 973 in Memleben
   and was also buried in the cathedral next to his wife.

   The entire cathedral St. Maurice was destroyed on Good Friday in 1207
   by a city fire. All but the southern wing of the cloister burned down.
   Archbishop Albrecht II von Kefernburg decided to pull down the
   remaining walls and construct a completely new cathedral, against some
   opposition of the people in Magdeburg. Only the south wall of the
   cloister is still standing. The exact location of the old church
   remained unknown for a long time, but the foundations were rediscovered
   in May 2003, revealing a building 80 m long and 41 m wide. The old
   crypt has been excavated and can be visited by the public.

   The place in front of the cathedral (sometimes called "new
   marketplace", Neuer Markt) was occupied by an imperial palace
   (Kaiserpfalz), which was destroyed in the fire of 1207. The stones of
   the ruin served for building the cathedral. The presumptive remains of
   the palace were excavated in the 1960s.

Construction of the current building

   Saint Maurice in Magdeburg.
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   Saint Maurice in Magdeburg.
   Plan of the Cathedral of Magdeburg.
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   Plan of the Cathedral of Magdeburg.

   Archbishop Albrecht II von Kefernburg decided to construct a completely
   new cathedral. Since Albrecht was very educated for his time and
   studied in France and Italy, he knew about the new Gothic architecture
   developed in France, but yet completely unknown in Germany.
   Subsequently he decided to build the new cathedral in the modern French
   style. Yet the craftsmen did not know the style, and only slowly
   learned the gothic style. The construction of the choir started in
   1209, only two years after the fire that destroyed the previous church,
   but this choir is still in a very Romanesque style, initially still
   using romanesque groin vaults, combined with a gothic centre stone,
   which however is not needed for Romanesque groin vaults.

   The Gothic influence increased especially between 1235 and 1260 under
   Archbishop Wilbrand. As the construction was supervised by different
   people in the span of 300 years, lots of changes were made to the
   original plan, and the cathedral size expanded greatly. The people of
   Magdeburg were not always happy with this, since they had to pay for
   the construction. In some cases already constructed walls and pillars
   were torn down to suit the wishes of the current supervisor.

   Construction stopped after 1274. In 1325, Archbishop Burchard III. von
   Schraplau was killed by the people of Magdeburg because of extreme
   taxes. Folklore says that especially the beer tax increase caused much
   anger. Afterwards Magdeburg was under a ban, and only after the
   donation of five atonement altars did the construction of the cathedral
   continue under Archbishop Otto von Hessen. Otto was also able to
   complete the interior construction, and formally opened the dome in
   1363 in a week-long festival. At this time the cathedral was dedicated
   not only to St Maurice as before, but also to Saint Catherine.

   In 1360 the construction stopped again after the uncompleted parts have
   been covered provisionally. Only in 1477 did the construction start
   again under Archbishop Ernst von Sachsen, including the two towers. The
   towers were constructed by master builder Bastian Binder, the only
   master builder of the cathedral known by name. The construction of the
   cathedral was completed in 1520 with the placement of the ornamental
   cross on the north tower.

Luther, the Swedes, and Napoleon

   Three of the five wise virgins showing their joy.
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   Three of the five wise virgins showing their joy.
   Three of the five foolish virgins showing their sorrow.
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   Three of the five foolish virgins showing their sorrow.

   On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of
   the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, starting the Protestant
   reformation. Luther also preached in Magdeburg in 1524. Some smaller
   churches in Magdeburg changed to Protestantism soon thereafter. The
   unpopularity of Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg also furthered the
   reformation, and after his death in 1545 in Mainz there was no
   successor. Magdeburg became a leader in the Protestant reformation, and
   was outlawed by the emperor. The Catholic church stored the cathedral
   treasure in Aschaffenburg for safekeeping, but the treasure was later
   lost to the Swedes in the Thirty Years' War. The priests of the
   cathedral also changed to Protestantism, and on the first advent Sunday
   in 1567, the first Protestant mass was held in the cathedral.

   However, during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) Magdeburg was raided,
   and only a small group of 4000 citizens survived the murdering, raping,
   and looting (known as the sack of Magdeburg) by seeking refuge in the
   cathedral. The head priest, Reinhard Bakes, begged on his knees for the
   lives of his people before Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly. The
   cathedral survived the fires in the city, and was dedicated again to
   the Catholic religion. However, as Tilly's catholic forces left
   Magdeburg, the cathedral was completely looted, and the colorful
   windows were shot out. 20,000 people of Magdeburg died during the war,
   and at the end of the war Magdeburg had a population of only 400.
   Magdeburg became part of Brandenburg, and was transformed into a large
   fortress.

   In 1806 Magdeburg was given to Napoleon, and the cathedral was used for
   storage, and also as a horse barn and sheep pen. The occupation ended
   in 1814, and between 1826 and 1834 Frederick William III of Prussia
   financed the much-needed repairs and reconstruction of the cathedral.
   The glass windows were all replaced in 1900.

The 20th century

   Magdeburger Ehrenmal by Barlach.
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   Magdeburger Ehrenmal by Barlach.

   The cathedral survived World War I without damage, but the frequent
   Allied bombings of World War II completely destroyed the windows of the
   cathedral. During the heaviest firebombing on January 16, 1945, one
   bomb hit the dome on the west side, destroying the wall, the organ, and
   some other parts of the building. Fortunately, the fire brigades were
   able to extinguish the flames on the roof structures in time, so damage
   to the cathedral was only moderate. The cathedral was opened again in
   1955, and a new, smaller organ was installed at a different location in
   1969.

   With the establishment of the communist-led German Democratic Republic
   in 1949, Magdeburg fell under Soviet occupation. Communist leaders
   tried to suppress religion as a potential threat to communist doctrine,
   thus being active in church was a social disadvantage. The eradication
   of religion could not be accomplished, however, and weekly peace
   prayers were held in the cathedral beginning in 1983 in front of the
   Magdeburger Ehrenmal, a sculpture by Ernst Barlach. This led to the
   famous Monday demonstrations of 1989 in Leipzig and Magdeburg, which
   played a significant role in German reunification.

   The cathedral is currently undergoing a reconstruction phase that began
   in 1983 under the East German Government. In 1990, a number of solar
   cells were installed on the roof, marking the first solar cell
   installation on a church in East Germany. The solar cells provide
   energy for use in the church, with excess energy being added to the
   regional power network. The maximum output was 418 watts. In 2004, a
   funding drive started in 1997 for a new organ was completed, collecting
   €2 million. The new organ has been ordered from a company near Potsdam
   and will be a 36 ton instrument with 93 registers and approximately
   5000 pipes. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2007, and the
   new organ will hopefully be used for the first time in 2008.

   The Magdeburger Ehrenmal in the cathedral is once again the starting
   point of many Monday demonstrations, but this time the demonstrations
   are aimed against social reforms reducing government welfare. However,
   these demonstrations occur on a much smaller scale, so comparisons to
   the Monday demonstrations of 1989 are made mainly for publicity
   reasons.

Architecture

   Inside of the Cathedral of Magdeburg, looking towards east.
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   Inside of the Cathedral of Magdeburg, looking towards east.

   The current cathedral was constructed over a period of 300 years
   starting from 1209, and the completion of the steeples took place only
   in 1520. As the Gothic architecture style was developed in the 12th
   century in France, there were no previous examples of gothic
   architecture in Germany, and German craftsmen were still very
   unfamiliar with the style at the start of the construction. Hence they
   learned by doing, and their progress can be seen in small architectural
   changes over the construction periods, which started with the Sanctuary
   in the east side of the church near the river Elbe and ended with the
   top of the towers. This sanctuary shows a strong Romanesque
   architecture influence. Different from other French gothic cathedrals,
   Magdeburg cathedral does not have flying buttresses for support of the
   walls.

   The building has an inside length of 120 meters, and a height to the
   ceiling of 32 meters. The towers rise to 99,25 and 100,98 meters, and
   are the highest church towers in eastern Germany. The layout of the
   cathedral consists of one nave and two aisles, with one transept
   crossing the nave and aisles. Each side of the transept has an
   entrance, the south entrance leading into the cloister. The ceiling in
   the nave is higher than in the aisles, allowing for clerestory windows
   to give light to the nave. There is a separate narthex (entrance area)
   in the west. The presbytery in the east is separated from the nave by a
   stone wall, serving the same function as a rood screen. The sanctuary
   and the apse follow the presbytery. The apse is also surrounded by an
   ambulatory. (See Cathedral diagram for details on cathedral layouts) A
   secondary building around a large non-rectangular cloister is connected
   to the south side of the cathedral. The cloister, whose south wall
   survived the fire of 1207 and is still from the original church, was
   parallel to the original church. Yet, the current church was
   constructed at a different angle, and hence the cloister is at an odd
   angle with the church.

   The ground around the Elbe river in Magdeburg is soft, and it is
   difficult to construct tall buildings, except for one large rock. Hence
   the cathedral was constructed on top of this rock, called Domfelsen in
   German, which means Cathedral Rock. At low water levels, this rock is
   visible in the Elbe. As in old times low water meant a small harvest,
   this rock is also called Hungerfelsen, meaning starvation rock. In any
   case, the rock was not big enough for the cathedral, and on the west
   end only the north tower could be placed on a solid rock foundation,
   whereas the south tower stands on soft ground. To reduce weight the
   south tower is therefore only an empty shell with no interior or
   stairs, and all the heavy bells are in the north tower with a solid
   rock foundation. However, the south tower is slightly higher than the
   north tower, which is optically corrected by adding an ornamental cross
   on the north tower.

Art

   Baptismal Font made of rose porphyry.
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   Baptismal Font made of rose porphyry.
   The Royal Couple.
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   The Royal Couple.

   Despite the looting and plundering, the Cathedral of Magdeburg is rich
   in art, ranging from antiques to modern art. The following list is not
   complete and only a summary of the most significant pieces. The list is
   roughly sorted by the time of creation.
     * Antique pillars made from marble, porphyry, and granite are used in
       the apse, originating from buildings in Ravenna, transported to
       Magdeburg for the construction of the first building in 937
     * The Baptismal font made of rose porphyry from a site near Assuan,
       Egypt. Originally designed as a fountain with a hole in the centre,
       the item may be thousands of years old, and is still used for
       baptism today.
     * The Grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor from 973. During an
       exhumation in 1844 it was found that the grave contains a skeleton
       and some remains of clothes, but all offerings have been looted,
       presumably during the thirty year war. The Latin bronze inscription
       is made similar to historic designs.
     * The sculpture of Saint Maurice, created around 1250, is the first
       realistic depiction of an ethnic African in central European art,
       showing clearly the ethnic features as for example a broad nose.
       The figure is no longer complete.
     * The sculpture of Saint Catherine, also around 1250, was created by
       the same artist as the sculpture of Maurice.
     * The Royal Couple (Herrscherpaar) in the sixteen-sided chapel (also
       around 1250) bear very realistic and lifelike expressions. The
       identity of the couple is unknown, but they may represent Emperor
       Otto I and his wife Edith, or Jesus in heaven with his wife the
       holy church.
     * The sculptures of the five wise and the five foolish virgins (see
       The ten virgins from the List of Bible stories), also around 1250.
       This is the most remarkable piece of art in the cathedral. The five
       wise virgins are prepared and bring oil to a wedding, whereas the
       five foolish virgins are unprepared and bring no oil. Hence they
       have to go find oil and subsequently arrive late and cannot join
       the wedding anymore. The unknown artist masterfully expresses the
       emotions in the faces and the body languages of the girls, showing
       a much more realistic expression than what was common in art around
       that time. All figures are different, and have ethnic Slavic
       features. The sculptures are outside of the north entrance to the
       transept.
     * The seats in the choir from 1363 are masterfully carved and show
       the life of Jesus. The unknown master also created the seats in the
       choir in Bremen.
     * The Magdeburger Ehrenmal by Ernst Barlach was ordered as a heroic
       war memorial, but due to his voluntary participation during World
       War I Barlach was against the war and showed the pain and suffering
       of the war instead. This created a great controversy, and the work
       was almost destroyed. The spot in front of this sculpture was also
       the starting point of the Monday demonstrations.
     * The Lebensbaumkruzifix (literally: Tree of life cross) is a painted
       bronze sculpture from 1986 and expanded in 1988 that shows Jesus
       nailed to a tree instead of a cross. Jesus is attached to the tree
       only with his hands and feet, and is otherwise hanging freely. The
       sculpture was designed not only to be viewed from the front but
       from all sides. The tree is barren except for a small leaf of
       hope/life where the blood of Jesus drips on the tree. The artist,
       Prof. Jürgen Weber, wanted the sculpture to be the centerpiece near
       the altar, but the sculpture was placed on the south side of the
       transept against his wishes.

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