Meissen Cathedral, Lutheran cathedral in Meissen, Germany
Meissen Cathedral is a Lutheran church on Burgberg hill in the Saxon city of Meissen, located in eastern Germany. Two towers on the western end rise 81 meters (266 feet) above the ground, while the building stretches 97 meters (318 feet) in length and follows the forms of the Gothic style.
Work began in 1250 after papal permission and replaced a wooden chapel built in 968 that served as the first church on the site. The Reformation during the 1500s changed its role from a Catholic bishop's seat to a Lutheran place of worship that continues today.
The name recalls the time when bishops led the church before the Reformation transformed it into a Protestant place of worship. Worshippers gather here for Lutheran services, and the building welcomes visitors who come to see its interior and attend concerts.
Opening hours run daily from 9 to 18 from April through October, and from 10 to 16 between November and March. Visitors should be prepared for stairs and uneven floors inside, as the age of the building has preserved its original construction.
Foundations of earlier buildings lie beneath the floor, including remains of an 11th-century basilica with four towers. These layers show how the site transformed again and again over more than a thousand years while the base walls stayed in the ground.
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