Frankfurt Cathedral | |
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Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew | |
German: Frankfurter Dom | |
50°6′38″N 8°41′6″E / 50.11056°N 8.68500°ECoordinates: 50°6′38″N 8°41′6″E / 50.11056°N 8.68500°E | |
Location | Domplatz 1 Frankfurt am Main |
Country | Germany |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | www |
History | |
Dedication | Bartholomew the Apostle |
Relics held | Pieces of Saint Bartholomew's skull |
Architecture | |
Status | Cathedral (also parish church) |
Functional status | Active |
Style | Gothic |
Years built | c. 7th century (original building) |
Completed | 1550 1990s (restoration) |
Specifications | |
Number of towers | 1 |
Tower height | 95 metres (312 ft) (including spire) |
Administration | |
Diocese | Limburg |
Province | Cologne |
Laity | |
Director of music | Andreas Boltz |
Frankfurt Cathedral (German: Frankfurter Dom), officially Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew (German: Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomäus) is a Roman Catholic Gothic church located in the centre of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is dedicated to Saint Bartholomew.
It is the largest religious building in the city and a former collegiate church. Despite its common English name, it has never been a true cathedral (episcopal see), but is called the Kaiserdom (an "imperial great church" or imperial cathedral) or simply the Dom due to its importance as former election and coronation church of the Holy Roman Empire. As one of the major buildings of the Empire's history, it was a symbol of national unity, especially in the 19th century.
The present church building is the third church on the same site. Since the late 19th century, excavations have revealed buildings that can be traced back to the 7th century. The history is closely linked with the general history of Frankfurt and Frankfurt's old town because the cathedral had an associated role as the religious counterpart of the Royal Palace in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt Cathedral was an imperial collegiate church, termed Dom in German - a synecdoche for all collegiate churches used totum pro parte also for cathedrals -, and thus traditionally translated as cathedral in English. St. Bartholomew's is the main church of Frankfurt and was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries on the foundation of an earlier church from the Merovingian time.