St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, Gothic cathedral in Utrecht, Netherlands
St. Martin's Cathedral is a Gothic church building in Utrecht composed of a tall stone hall with wide vaults supported by slender columns. The freestanding tower rises over 112 meters and forms a two-part ensemble with the church structure at the cathedral square.
Bishop Henry van Vianen began the Gothic church in 1254 after a fire ravaged the earlier Romanesque Dom of Adalbold. The choir came first, and the Dom Tower was built between 1321 and 1382. Financing dwindled after 1515, leaving the nave unfinished; it collapsed in the storm of 1 August 1674 and was never rebuilt.
The dedication to Saint Martin of Tours dates from Willibrord's stone church of around 695; the present Gothic building kept the patron. Since 1580 it has served a Protestant congregation, with Catholic Mass briefly restored in 1672–1673 during the French occupation. The chapter house where the Union of Utrecht was signed in 1579 is now a hall of Utrecht University.
The interior can be accessed through an entrance on the south side, while the tower has a separate entrance facing the square. The church is easy to reach on foot because it stands centrally in the old town and is visible from all directions.
Several tombs of medieval nobles and bishops lie buried in the crypt and beneath floor slabs in the choir area. The heart and internal organs of Emperor Conrad II were laid to rest here in the 11th century, while his body was taken to Speyer.
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