Worms Cathedral

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Worms Cathedral: east end

The spacious Cathedral of St Peter (the Wormser Dom) is the principal church and chief building of Worms and ranks, along with Speyer and Mainz, among the finest Romanesque churches along the Rhine. This magnificent basilica, with four round towers, two large domes, and a choir at each end, has a specially imposing exterior, though the impression produced by the interior is also one of great dignity and simplicity, heightened by the natural color of the red sandstone of which it is built.

Only the ground plan and the lower part of the western towers belong to the original building consecrated in 1110. The remainder was mostly finished by 1181, but the west choir and the vaulting were built in the 13th century, the elaborate south portal was added in the 14th century, and the central dome has been rebuilt.

The ornamentation of the older parts is simple; even the more elaborate later forms show no high development of workmanship. Unique sculptures depicting salvation stories appear above the Gothic-era south doorway. The baptistery contains five remarkable stone reliefs from the late 15th century.

The cathedral is 361 feet long, and 89 feet wide, or including the transepts, which are near the west end, 118 feet (inside measurements). The height in the nave is 85 feet; under the domes it is 131 feet.