St. Paul's Church, Worms, Germany

St. Paul's Chapter Church was built by Bishop Burchard (who also built the first Worms Cathedral) in 1002. It was originally a three-naved buttress basilica.

A Dominican monastery was added in 1226. Also in the 13th century, the stone dome-shaped tower roofs were added in the Byzantine style of Jerusalem's churches. These make the church a visible monument to the Crusades.

The Pauluskirche was desconsecrated and the monastery destroyed in 1797 in the interests of secularization. In the decades that followed, the church was used as a warehouse, a barn and finally as a municipal museum (1880).

In 1929, Dominican religious life began again here and is still an active community. The resident monks conduct services, prayers and confession, and some also work as hospital or prison chaplains. The Pauluskirche was badly damaged by bombing on February 21, 1945, but through the support of local citizens it was rebuilt and back in service in 1947.

The present nave of the Pauluskirche was rebuilt in the Baroque era, but the remainder of the building is 11th-century Romanesque.

User Reviews

Andreas Herchenröther (16 months ago)
798 years can be felt and visible here. A great place, unfortunately the monastery closes at Easter...

Robert T (17 months ago)
?rash decision to leave Worms. I wish you to stay and exceed 1000 years in the service of pama ???

Natalie N. (2 years ago)
A beautiful, beautiful church with the associated monastery.

Thomas Müthing (theviolinproject.de) (3 years ago)
It's a shame, unfortunately closed during my visit: The Church of St. Paul in Worms has an eventful history that goes back over a thousand years and is now a monastery of the Dominican Order. The centuries created an exceptionally designed church: Originally a three-aisled Romanesque pillar basilica (around 1000 AD), the east choir was converted into a five-sided apse three centuries later. The church later served, among other things, as a city museum of Worms and as a weapons depot; it was only since 1929 that it has been a monastery church for the Dominicans. The church was partially bombed out during the Second World War and was finally completely restored in 1999. If you're visiting Worms you should stop by here, if you're lucky it might be open.

Sascha Brenner Immobilien Rhein Neckar (4 years ago)
If you're in Worms it's worth a visit. The unusual design of the church from the outside is rarely seen. Is just a stone's throw from the center.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Infomastern

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Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

St. Paul's Church

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