Speyer Cathedral (or Cathedral of St. Maria and St. Stephan)--page 2 (of four pages)


consecrated 1061 CE




The porch or narthex

The west wall next to the nave is 20 feet thick. Note the splayed doorway, indicating the thickness of the wall.
 
The bronze door of the main entrance depicts Christ as Good Shepherd at the top and in smaller scenes illustrates events in Christ's life. The Latin inscription proclaims Our Lord's desire, that "all might be one."
 

The nave--south wall looking west

The full length of the cathedral is 435 '.

A unique feature of the cathedral is the so-called "dwarf" gallery, a row of small column arcades just below the edge of the roof. It runs along the nave around the transepts and at the top of the apse in the rear. Along the nave it is divided rhythmically so as to indicate bay separations. See below.

 

 

The south transpt

 
 

The nave north wall and north transept

 

The north transept with arcaded "dwarf" gallery at the top




Works Cited or Consulted:
Xavier Barral i Altet. The Romanesque: Towns, Cathedrals, Monasteries. Köln: Taschen, 1998.
Marilyn Stokstad. Medieval Art. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.
Rolf Toman. Romanesque. Köln: Köneman, 1997.

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© 2015 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.

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