Travel Tips

The facade of Speyer Cathedral is lovely.....its layers of coloured stone are reminiscent of Italian churches.

Above the porch are five figures. From the left: St. Steven (the cathedral is dedicated to him & St Mary), St. Michael (patron saint of Germany), St Mary, St John the Baptist (the cathedral is the main baptistery for the diocese), St Bernard of Clairvaux (visited the cathedral in 1146). My thanks to the the cathedral info leaflet for the identification!

Within the porch, along with a couple of substantial memorials, you'll find (if you look carefully) quite small decorative carvings of, mostly, animals. I liked this......one imagines the lesser-skilled, 'ordinary' masons practising their art on such projects. Maybe they were even apprentice pieces, produced by the young men (they were always men) as proof of their ability.

And inside, take a look at the stones. They are decorated with chisel marks.

Think: someone decided this time-consuming task was worth doing, to the glory of God. Whether one is religious or not, one must be impressed by concern for detail, and the efforts made by the Medieval masons. I imagine the small boys, the youngest apprentices, being set to do this task.......

St Catherine's chapel contains the relics held by the cathedral: their 'holy bones'.

Here, set about the room in golden and bejewelled cases, you will find humeri, a head and other remnants of saints.

Being from a 'Protestant' country where such displays are extremely uncommon ( can, offhand, think of none such in England), I always find such relics both absorbing and fascinating.