Late Romanesque / Early Gothic Cathedral of Saint George in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, Germany. Built in the late 1100s / early 1200s AD, it has seven towers of varying heights, including one with a slightly curving spire. It owes its exuberant and colourful exterior to painstaking restoration work in the 1960s and ‘70s, with colours determined by traces of original paint.
Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, Germany: Cathedral of Saint George (Sankt-Georgs-Dom, Georgsdom or Limburger Dom). Limburg’s Late Romanesque / Early Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral is a three-aisled basilica, built in the late 1100s / early 1200s AD. It has seven towers of varying heights, including one with a slightly curving spire, and is bright orange, white and yellow in colour, having been re-painted in the 20th century. The cathedral used to feature (1960-1989) on pre-Euro German 1,000 Deutsche Mark banknotes. The unusual location of the cathedral, on the edge of Limburg’s old town and not in its centre, is because its predecessor was a castle chapel. The castle itself was built in the Merovingian period (700s AD) and a chapel is first recorded in the early 800s AD. This chapel was demolished and replaced with a basilica which stood for several centuries. Construction of the present building started around 1190. The new church was dedicated to two saints, George and Nicholas, indicating its dual purpose as a parish church for both Limburg citizens, whose patron saint was Nicholas, and a collegiate church for canons patronised by Saint George. In 1827, a new Roman Catholic bishopric was created with its centre in Limburg and the church was accorded the status of cathedral. Limburg moved up a gear in 1150 when a wooden bridge was constructed across the River Lahn, allowing a long-distance trade route from Cologne to Frankfurt, the Via Publica, to run directly through the settlement. In 1214, Limburg officially became a town. In 1306, the wooden bridge was replaced with a stone bridge, the Alte Lahnbrücke (Old Lahn Bridge), and bridge tolls paid by traveling merchants funded construction of magnificent buildings. Today, Limburg is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, Germany
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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