Speyer, Cathedral 1

The ancient Roman town, Civitas Nemetum, destroyed in about the year 450 AD, was located at the junction of what is now the Rhein and Speyer Rivers. Twenty miles west of Heidelberg, this site is now occupied by the town of Speyer (Spires). In 1529, this was the location of the Diet of Spires, a formal deliberative assembly at which Martin Luther’s “protesters” acquired the name Protestants.

The impressive belfries of the Speyer Cathedral, founded in 1030 AD, can be seen from miles away, and are particularly impressive when seen from the bridge over the Rhein River. How do we describe these captivating, exceptional buildings? Words like Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo describe specific architecture styles, but we have yet to discover the words needed to define the beauty.