Osnabrueck - Cathedral St. Peter

The bishop´s see was founded by Charlemagne around 780. The first church here, was destroyed by the Normans. After a great fire, that burnt down most of the town around 1100, the cathedral was built over a long period, so it is a mix of late romanesque and gothic style. Clearly romanesque are the left tower of the westwork, the left wall and the crossing tower. The right tower was similar to the left upto 1502, when it had to be enlarged, as the new ordered bells where just too heavy for the old tower. During WWII Osnabrueck got heavily bombed and the cathedral burnt down, It was rebuilt in the 1950s. In the foreground is the statue of a lion. This is the copy of the original (today in a museum), given to the town by Henry the Lion (1129–1195). It is dubbed "Loewenpudel" (Lion-Poodle), as it really looks like a mixture of these two creatures.