Altenberg Cathedral
| Altenberger Dom | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Altenberg |
| Country | Germany |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Dedication | Assumption of Mary |
| Consecrated | 1276 |
| Events | restoration 19th century |
| Architecture | |
| Status | church |
| Style | Gothic |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Katholische Pfarrgemeinde St. Mariä Himmelfahrt am Dom Unserer Lieben Frau zu Altenberg |
| Diocese | Diocese of Cologne |
| Altenberger Dom | |
|---|---|
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| Denomination | Evangelical Church in Germany |
| Website | www |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Evangelische Kirchengemeinde |
The Altenberger Dom (or Bergischer Dom) is the former abbey church of Altenberg Abbey which was built from 1259 in Gothic style by Cistercians. Listed as a cultural heritage, it is located in Altenberg, now part of Odenthal in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Until 1511, the church was the burial site of counts and dukes of Berg and the dukes of Jülich-Berg.
Badly damaged after the monastery was dissolved in 1803 due to the secularisation of Germany, the church was rebuilt with support from Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, who decreed in 1857 that it was to serve as a parish church simultaneously for a Catholic and a Protestant parish.
The German name has sometimes been translated to English as Altenberg Cathedral, but it was never a cathedral, a bishop's seat.
The Counts of Berg settled in the area east of Cologne, along the Dhünn river. Cistercians arrived from Morimond in their land, now Bergisches Land, in 1133. They founded Altenburg Abbey on the river, with a first church consecrated in 1160. The archbishop of Cologne, Konrad von Hochstaden, laid in 1259 the foundation of a larger church "St. Mariä Himmelfahrt" (Assumption of Mary). The choir of the new church, in Gothic style, was consecrated in 1276. The choir's floor plan is similar to that of the Cologne Cathedral, and the choir is similar to the destroyed choir of Royaumont, probably because the builders of Altenburg were familiar with that site. The church was built over 140 years and served as the abbey church for centuries.
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