St. Peter and Paul Cathedral Bardowick

Old Romanesque cathedral from the time when Bardowick was even more important than Lüneburg. If you are looking for the cathedral, you have to go into town and look for the following streets: at the cathedral, cathedral street.

Like the previous building documented in 1146, the church was a collegiate church that belonged to a mission cell of the Amorbach monastery. Originally made of wood, the church suffered considerable damage after the destruction of Bardowick by Henry the Lion in 1189, as documented by a papal document from 1194. From this previous building there are only spoils in the area of the St. Stephen's Chapel to the west and the towers. Blocks from the Lüneburg Schiltstein (stone containing gypsum from the Lüneburg Kalkberg) were used here. The Romanesque portal, which is protected by the chapel in front, was also built from this stone, which is slightly weathered.

Surviving letters of indulgence from 1236 and around 1300 indicate that funds were raised for the construction of a new church on the old site. The financing is then secured from 1381 by a chapter resolution of the monastery and other letters of indulgence.

The octagonal towers were built from brick around 1300. Further construction was delayed and began in 1389 with the construction of the choir. It has three bays with a 7/10 degree, is 28 meters long and 12.80 meters wide. The main house is four yokes in length. Individual bricks could be dated to a period from 1390 to 1409 based on stamp impressions, since the stamp is identical to that of the bricks in Lüneburg's St. Michael's Church.

The roof truss can be dated dendrochronologically to 1405 or 1428. The choir stalls were created in 1487. The vestibule built at this time in front of the south portal, as can be seen in the older depictions, has now been demolished again. The wooden sculpture of a seated lion above the south portal, which has a gilded lead coat and the inscription Vestigium Leonis, remained from it.

The cathedral is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the summer months (April to September) until 5 p.m.

Source: Wikipedia

Bardowick is a proud village. Not only because its asparagus and Thanksgiving - the largest in the entire north - are known far beyond the Lüneburg Heath. But above all, because the Bardowicker look back on a great history. The mighty cathedral and other medieval vestiges testify to the glory of the 6,500-soul community thousands of years ago.

The cathedral is a Gothic three-aisled hall church with squat octagonal towers. It was built between 1389 and 1485. Since 1850, by the way, this church was never a bishop's church.