Cathedral Unserer Lieben Frau
Constance

Constance Cathedral has a history spanning more than 1.200 years as a bishop’s seat. The Vita of St. Gallus mentions a bishop’s church, St. Mary’s Church, in 615, which was first documented as a bishop’s seat in 780. The current main building is a three-nave Romanesque column basilica, which was consecrated in 1089.

Of outstanding art-historical significance is the early Gothic replica of the central building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, built on a scale of 1:2 inside the Mauritius Chapel in 940. The Romanesque church has been remodelled in the Gothic style with the wide west tower block with west portal (12th-15th century) and the side chapels (15th century).

The cathedral served as the meeting place for the Council of Constance from 1414 to 1418. Since the abolition of the diocese in 1821, the cathedral has been used as a Roman Catholic parish church.
Its current appearance is characterised by the neo-Gothic spire (consecrated in 1853). The Basilica minor is one of the largest Romanesque churches in south-western Germany and, with its striking silhouette, continues to dominate the cityscape to this day.

As a result of secularisation, the Prince-Bishopric of Constance was also secularised in 1803. By decree of the Ministry of Finance in 1888, the State of Baden assumed all building obligations for Constance Cathedral, with the exception of the cathedral school, the north-eastern cloister wing. Initially, maintenance was carried out by the Baden Building District Inspectorate, and today by its successor institution, the Constance Office of the State Agency for Property and Construction Baden-Württemberg, under the supervision of master builder of cathedrals Christine Horstmann.

Photos: David Valinsky Photography