Speyer - Cathedral

Speyer gained importance, when the Salian dynasty entered the political stage with Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II. He commissioned the construction of of this church, known as the "Imperial Cathedral of Speyer". lt was planned to be the largest cathedral worldwide. A display of the Emperor´s power, that was - before the "Investiture Controversy" - secular and ecclesiastical.

The cathedral was completed 1106, the year Conrad´s grandson Emperor Henry IV died.

A huge crown hanging on a chain like a pendulum. Below the choir is the large crypta, that is used as the burial site for the Salian emperors. So this crown marks the burial site below. The crown is a giant copy of the orginal crown, Conrad II wore, when he was buried here in 1039. The original is on view in the nearby museum. Engraved is"PACIS ARATOR ET VRBIS BENEFACTOR" what is "Sower of peace and Benefactor of the city (of Rome)".

As the history of the cathedral is really complex, I add the Wikipedia-links here:

english:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer_Cathedral
french:
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cath%C3%A9drale_Notre-Dame-de-l%27A...
german:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyerer_Dom

"Europaeische Stiftung Kaiserdom zu Speyer" has a very good website, but only in German:
www.dom-speyer.de/index.html