Trier - Liebfrauenkirche

Founded by the Romans around 30 BC as "Augusta Treverorum", Trier claims (just like Xanten, Cologne, Worms, Speyer...) to be the oldest existing German city.

Trier, the center of a diocese already within the 3rd century, was destroyed by the Alemanni (275), rebuilt under Constantine the Great, who resided in "Augusta Treverorum". Under his the reign Maximin of Trier (329–346), the fifth Bishop here, started the construction of an giant ecclesial ensemble with four basilicas and a baptisterium.

The buildings, ruined by the Franks, got rebuilt and destroyed again by the Vikings (Normans) in 882. In 977 Emperor Otto II installed his senior official Egbert of Trier as Bishop, who started a building process, that reused lots of the ruined structures, incl. Roman walls and pillars.

Built next to the cathedral is the "Liebfrauenkirche" ("Church of our Lady", "Eglise de Notre-Dame". This is one of the oldest Gothic structures in Germany. It is erected on the floorplan of a rotunda and was built by French (Lothringian) masters. It was comissioned by Archbishop Theoderich von Wied around 1230. Most stones used here, were shipped from Lothringia to Trier via the river Moselle, what must have been pretty expensive.

After Theoderich had passed away, the building process stopped due to the lack of funds. With the support of the Diocese of Cologne, where special letters of indulgence were on sale, the church got completed around 1260. The church was used by the cathedral chapter and was "integrated" into the cathedral´s liturgy.

When French troops occupied Trier after the French Revolution it was discussed by the political authorities, to demolish the Liebfrauenkirche, but (as local rumours tell) the mayor of Trier could convince Napoleon, to save this "Masterpiece, created by French architects" and so the nearby St. Laurentius church got knocked down.

So the official name of this church is "Liebfrauen and St. Laurentius".

Since 1951 this is a "Basilica Minor" (nearby St. Matthias got this papal title already in the 1920s). The yellow/red Padiglione (aka "Umbraculum"), the umbrella seen in the foreground, decorates the choir, as this is one of the insigniae of such a honoured church.