The Trier Cathedral Museum is an establishment of the Trier diocese. Its task is to collect, to conserve, and to research historical evidence of art, culture, and religious faith in the Trier diocese and/or the earlier Trier archdiocese, and to communicate to the public as well as to cultivate dialogue with contemporary art.
The museum was assigned the additional task of conducting archaeological research into the predecessor structures from Late Antiquity of Germany’s oldest bishop’s church, Trier Cathedral. This research has brought forth a collection of archaeological finds whose origins illustrate Christianity in Trier in a singular way. The museum maintains the respective archaeological excavation sites regarding Early Christianity in Trier.
In the juxtaposition of works of older and contemporary art, the museum invites the viewer to a dialogue and encourages reflection. It is a place for encounter and examination of contemporary art and its religious dimension.
The museum documents in an exceptional way the continuity of the Trier Church from the 4th century to the present.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.