St.-Paulus-Dom, Cathedral in Münster, Germany
St. Paulus Cathedral rises 58 meters above the center of Münster and displays Gothic architecture with tall pointed arches, delicate tracery windows, and a western facade flanked by two towers. The interior extends through a three-aisled nave with transept and choir, while slender pillars and ribbed vaults shape the walls.
Construction of the current building took place between 1225 and 1264, following two earlier churches that had stood at different sites. During World War II the structure suffered heavy damage from bombing, yet rebuilding followed the original design and restored the Gothic forms.
The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Paul and serves as the parish church for the old Domburg and Domimmunität district, a role it lost in the 13th century when St. Jacobi was built on the Domplatz and regained after that church was demolished in 1812. In the Ludgerus Chapel lies the tomb of Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Münster, made a cardinal shortly before his death in 1946 and beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
The cathedral stands on the Horsteberg, ringed by Roggenmarkt, Prinzipalmarkt and Rothenburg streets and the Münstersche Aa. The Domplatz gives level access to the west towers and the Gothic nave; the westwerk, old choir and towers date from around 1192. The parish district today covers only the old Domburg and Domimmunität.
The cathedral's westwork, with its two nearly identical towers, was built around 1192 for the second, Ottonian cathedral and was kept when the Gothic building replaced it from 1225 to 1264. The result is a single church where Romanesque towers and Old Choir meet a Gothic nave, transepts, high choir and ring of chapels.
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