2 stops in walking order

Historic Site

Speyer, historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lies 25 km (16 miles) south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, and 21 km (13 miles) south-west of Heidelberg. Founded by the Romans as a fortified town on the northeastern frontier of their empire, it is one of Germany's oldest cities. Speyer Cathedral, a number of other churches, and the Altpörtel ("old gate") dominate the Speyer landscape. In the cathedral, beneath the high altar, are the tombs of eight Holy Roman Emperors and German kings. Speyer is one of the ShUM cities, which formed the centre of the Jewish community in northern Europe during the Middle Ages. The city's medieval Judenhof was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. The cathedral is also a World Heritage Site, having been listed in 1981.

~20 min at this stop

Cathedral

Speyer Cathedral, officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen, in Latin: Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae is a historical religious building in Speyer, Germany. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer and is suffragan to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bamberg. The cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Mary, patron saint of Speyer ("Patrona Spirensis") and St. Stephen is generally known as the Kaiserdom zu Speyer (Imperial Cathedral of Speyer). Pope Pius XI raised Speyer Cathedral to the rank of a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925. Begun in 1030 under Conrad II, with the east end and high vault of 1090–1103, the imposing triple-aisled vaulted basilica of red sandstone is the "culmination of a design which was extremely influential in the subsequent development of Romanesque architecture during the 11th and 12th centuries". As the burial site for Salian, Staufer and Habsburg emperors and kings the cathedral is regarded as a symbol of imperial power.

~20 min at this stop