TOURIST-INFORMATION SPEYER

‘Get ready for Speyer’

...as it says in Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors follow this advice of the Privy Council and enjoy the very special flair of the historic cathedral and imperial city on the Rhine.

The foundation stone for the city's landmark, the Romanesque imperial cathedral, was laid by Konrad II around 1030. As the most important Romanesque building in Germany, with the crypt, the burial place of 8 German emperors and kings, being of particular note, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981.

In addition to visiting the largest building of the Christian West in the 11th century, the programme for our guests includes a tour of the ritual cleansing baths (Heb.: mikvah) of the medieval Jewish courtyard, which have been preserved to this day and are only a few steps away from the episcopal residence.

One of the highest preserved city gates in Germany offers an excellent overview of Speyer: the Altpörtel, built between 1230 and 1250. Once you have climbed the 154 steps, you are rewarded with a magnificent panoramic view of the Upper Rhine plain between Heidelberg and the German Wine Route, with no tower blocking the view of the old houses and streets that run in a star shape towards the cathedral. The majestic cathedral dominates the land between the Odenwald and Palatinate Forest.

The Historical Museum of the Palatinate presents a diverse collection on the cultural history of the city and the region with exhibits and treasures from the Stone Age to the present day on an area of around 6,000 square metres. In addition to highly acclaimed special exhibitions, the Cathedral Treasury with the burial crowns of the Salian emperors and the Wine Museum are among the highlights of the museum's exhibition landscape.

Sea Life Speyer is also unique. In this newly opened large aquarium, guests can immerse themselves in the fascinating diversity of the local aquatic world. Visitors can experience 3,500 animals up close in over 35 pools on more than 2,000 square metres of activity area.

No less attractive and exciting for hundreds of thousands of visitors is the presentation of 19th and 20th century technology history, which the Technik Museum Speyer has been collecting since 1991 in a listed aircraft production hall (8,000 square metres) dating back to 1913. A visit to the museum with its 50,000 square metres of open-air grounds is an absolute must for every visitor to Speyer: whether it is the 46-metre-long submarine - which can be walked on - commissioned by the German Navy in 1966 and has been ‘anchored’ in Speyer since 1993, or the locomotives, fire engines, vintage cars or the musical impressions left behind by a tour of the music salon with its mechanical musical instruments from the turn of the century, a visit is fascinating at any time of year. And the museum has yet another hit for visitors young and old: a superlative IMAX film theatre; on a 20x26 m cinema screen you can experience the world from an unusual perspective, the sensational production technology conveys a closeness to reality that allows the audience to become part of the action.
On a leisurely stroll through the alleyways and squares of the ‘Hasenpfuhl’, guests can enjoy Speyer's lovingly restored former residential quarter of fishermen and boatmen with its fig trees, rose hedges and fountains - in the shadow of the cathedral, the Dreifaltigkeitskirche church and the Retscher ruins, a feast for the eyes of a special kind!

In addition to idyllic corners of the old town, you will also find the oldest bridge in the city, the 14th century Sonnenbrücke or Nikolausbrücke. It provides all photographers with an impressive motif: the ‘cathedral hill’ with its majestic towering imperial cathedral (Kaiserdom).