Lübeck Cathedral, Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck's Old City, Germany
Lübeck Cathedral is a red-brick church almost 132 metres long, with two west towers topped by green copper spires. The Romanesque nave rests on massive rectangular piers, while the Gothic choir added from 1317 to 1341 has slender round columns; a glass wall marks the transition. A medieval cloister on the south side links it to the Museum for Nature and Environment.
Henry the Lion founded the cathedral in 1173 after the bishop's seat moved from Oldenburg to Lübeck. The Romanesque basilica was consecrated in 1247, then converted into a Gothic hall church from 1266, with the Gothic choir completed in 1341 under Bishop Heinrich II Bochholt. A Royal Air Force raid on 28–29 March 1942 destroyed the eastern choir vault and toppled the spires; reconstruction finished in 1982.
The cathedral is dedicated to John the Baptist, Blasius, Mary and Nicholas, and its 17 m Triumphal Cross by Bernt Notke was commissioned by Bishop Albert II Krummendiek in 1477. The medieval rood screen carvings are also by Notke, while Baroque memorials by Thomas Quellinus fill the southern funeral chapels. A poem inscribed inside begins "Ye call Me Master and obey me not".
The cathedral stands between the Obertrave and the Mühlenteich, so it is reached on foot through the Old City; the surviving medieval cloister on the south side links it to the Museum für Natur und Umwelt and the city archive. The choir and the older Romanesque nave are separated by a glass wall installed during the post-war reconstruction of the 1970s, which marks the change from rectangular piers to round columns. The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival uses the building for concerts, a tradition tied to organist and cantor Uwe Röhl (1925–2005).
At 105 metres, the cathedral is shorter than Lübeck's Marienkirche, a consequence of a power struggle between the church and the guilds. The 17-metre Triumphal Cross by Bernt Notke, commissioned by Bishop Albert II Krummendiek, was erected in 1477 and survived the 1942 bombing.
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