04-03-2023 Visiting Speyer, Germany

Gersemi left Rudesheim for the town of Mannheim just after midnight.  There was a brief stop in Mannheim where some guests left the ship for the optional excursion to Heidelberg for a visit and lunch with the University students there. 

Notice the upturned chairs.  The upper deck wasn’t particularly popular this morning.

The morning sunshine on the river was gorgeous, but the air was still a bit chilly.  We enjoyed the morning on the ship, relaxing in our stateroom and walking around the ship on the top deck for a bit to check out the passing landscape. 

At 11 there was a talk by Nancy in the lounge sharing the different Viking itineraries and the countries that can be explored on Viking ships. Deb and I went up to the lounge to listen, but it really wasn’t that exciting to us since we didn’t plan to cruise again anytime soon with Viking or any other cruise line for that matter.

Some of the guests appear about as excited as we were with Nancy’s talk

We sat near the bar, which did provide a bit of interest

The lovely, quiet town of Speyer lies on the west bank of the Rhine.  The city is home to a great Romanesque Imperial cathedral.  Speyer was also once a major Celtic center that traded hands several times between the Romans and the Huns.  

It was early afternoon when our ship docked in Speyer.  It was a beautiful day, and still a bit chilly, but the sunshine felt wonderful after so many days of dreary, cold rain.  We had only a few short hours to explore the town, with our ship scheduled to leave Speyer at 6:30 PM. 

Gersemi pulled into the Viking dock near the beautiful Heidenturmchen Park, located in the area surrounding the cathedral. The park has a network of pathways leading to the cathedral and to the town center just beyond the cathedral.

Deb and I decided to skip the walking tour excursion in favor of walking the short distance to town on our own.  After sharing meals together and enjoying some delightful conversations with our new friends, we were delighted to walk to town with Abigail and Amelia.  Once again I decided to take my walker in case I needed to have a place to sit if my legs gave out.  

I included both these photos not only to show all of us but to show Amelia’s happy smile which was much more often her expression.

Before I continue, a bit of history:  The German city of Wittenberg may be the birthplace of the Reformation since it was there in 1517 that Martin Luther first challenged the abuses in the Roman Catholic Church.  But it was the city of Speyer that gave this religious revolution its name, “Protestantism”.  The name derives from a letter of protest signed by six princes and 14 representatives of the Free Imperial Cities during the Diet of Speyer in 1529.  

Sculpture in the park of some of the kings and emperors entombed in the Speyer Cathedral

A “diet” was a formal assembly of electors, nobles, and representatives from various states within the Holy Roman Empire, and its purpose was to negotiate and ratify laws.  Speyer’s protesting princes were reacting to events that had been set in motion eight years earlier.  In 1521, the Diet of Worms convened, and its major outcomes were the condemnation of Martin Luther as a heretic, the banning of his teachings, and the criminalization of any actions supporting Luther or his beliefs, actions that were punishable by death.  At the time, the Roman Catholic Church was all-powerful and wanted nothing to interfere with that power.

It was lovely to see the forsythia in bloom in the cathedral gardens

In reality, the Edict of Worms proved difficult to enforce.  The emperor, embroiled in power struggles with Rome and the threat of Ottoman Turkey on the eastern front, was reluctant to fan the fires of religious strife within his domains.  Many of his vassals, the empire’s most influential princes, were increasingly sympathetic to Luther’s ideas.  The first Diet of Speyer, in 1526, placed the anti-Lutheran ban on hold until a national general council could be held. This allowed individual nobles to temporarily oversee religious affairs within their own territories, a great boon to Luther’s movement.

In modern-day Speyer, it is possible to pay your respects to both strains of religious thought by visiting the great cathedral, (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and the Memorial Church of the Protestation.  

More sculptures in the ‘domgarten’ surrounding the cathedral

We chose to visit the cathedral, with its great spires dominating the skyline as we berthed in Speyer. The Imperial Cathedral is one of the world’s finest and largest Romanesque cathedrals.  Built between 1030 and 1061 by emperors KIonrad II, Henry II, and Henry IV, it was meant to impress not only with its size but its pomp and majesty.  The flat ceiling was replaced with groin vaults in the last 11th century.  

We first viewed the massive cathedral from the back as we walked toward the town 

The gorgeous red, cream, and pink sandstone was quarried in the mountains of the Palantine Forest and shipped downriver via the channeled Speyerbach, a stream that flows from the mountains to the Rhine

After centuries of damage, a restoration program in the 1950s returned the building to almost exactly its original condition.  Stonemasons from Lombardy did much of the architectural detail, including the dwarf galleries and the ornamental capitals.

As we walked around the building we saw the cathedral square and the main road leading into the old town of Speyer. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t write down the names of so many of these amazing architectural wonders as we walked the town.  

On the southern side of the cathedral is the Mount of Olives sculpture 

In front of the cathedral is the ‘domnapf’ or cathedral bowl.  It holds 1500 liters of wine and traditionally each new bishop had to fill the bowl with wine and the burghers emptied it to his health.  The last time the bowl was filled was on October 2, 2011, on the 950-year anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral

For me, entering this massive example of Romanesque architecture was breathtaking.

Entering the nearly 100-foot high portal is a big contrast to the Gothic cathedral we visited in Cologne, whose walls are supported externally by flying buttresses that allow for a minimum of masonry and maximum light.  Here at Speyer, the columns supporting the roof are massive. There isn’t a lot of stained glass because there are fewer windows. 

The cathedral contains the largest crypt in Germany.  It was striking in its simplicity and is the final resting place of four emperors, four kings, and three empresses.  I thought it was notable that the crypts weren’t the burial sites for archbishops and popes as is the case in so many cathedrals I have visited.

The difference between the two cathedrals, the Gothic cathedral in Cologne and the Romanesque cathedral in Speyer was striking.  I loved the solidity of the huge sandstone pillars and the strength that the building imparted, but did miss the brilliance of all the light and stained glass that I am used to seeing in a great cathedral.

After visiting the cathedral we walked west toward the old town of Speyer.  By this time we had joined our walking tour guide and tried to keep track of all she was telling us about the historic buildings as we walked the street.

The old city hall of Speyer.  

Yes, that is me wandering a bit as Deb searched for some toothpaste in the grocery store

The charming main street of Speyer

Searching for a grocery store

Deb and I did find a charming little gift shop where we both purchased a few inexpensive souvenirs, among them a cell phone carry bag for Deanna, and a couple of other small items.

At the end of the main part of the pedestrian walkway was the beautiful Old Gate of Speyer.  Built between 1230 and 1250 on the ruins of a previous tower, the bottom of the tower remains as the foundation, but in 1511, Speyer’s mayor ordered that the tower be rebuilt, so the upper portion is newer.  It was completed in 1514.  Originally built as an exterior gate, connecting the old town with a suburb, an additional roof was added in 1708.

The tower narrowly survived the destruction of Speyer in 1689, during the War of the Grand Alliance.  French troops had placed explosives in the tower and were preparing to demolish it when the prior of the nearby monastery warned that the collapse of the tower might endanger the soldiers who didn’t know how to demolish it without danger.  The entire Carmelite community knelt in front of the Drench troops to plead for the tower to be spared.  While the Old Gate was spared, the city of Speyer and the cathedral were left in a heap of rubble. 

As we learned so much more detail about the history of these cities we visited, I was always amazed at the complexity of so many centuries, wars, and religious conflicts.  I am reminded that there is nothing new about human conflict.

On our way toward the gate, our guide showed us the entrance to the old Jewish Quarter and mentioned a bit of the history of that place as well.  Deb and I planned to stop there on our way back to the ship, but time didn’t allow us that opportunity.  Both of us were really sorry we missed this important site.

Along with the cities of Mainz and Wurms, Speyer was an important center of Ashkenazic Jewish spiritual and intellectual life.  Though pogroms were a tragic reoccurrence throughout the city’s history, there were also times when Jewish life thrived.  in 1084, speyer’s Bishop Rudiger Huzmann invited Jews to settle here from nearby towns.  It was a business development move, since moneylending was forbidden for Christians and the city needed funds for the new cathedral it was building.  In return, the Bishop offered rights and protections that until then were unprecedented in Europe.

Today there are several reminders of Judaic life behind the Palatinate Historical Museum.  Here you can see the synagogue remains from 1104, and the ruins of Germany’s oldest mikva, a 33-foot-deep ritual bath.  The old cemetery was moved and destroyed several times, but artifacts from it are on display at the Museum SchPIRAS.  Almost all of Speyer’s Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.  But in 1996, a resurgence began when some Jewish refugee families settled here from Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain.  The cornerstone of their new synagogue was laid in 2008.

Looking down the alleyway leading to the Jewish Quarter

Sadly, exploring these kinds of historic places in depth is often truncated by the short timeframes offered on any type of cruise, not just a river cruise.

Deb and I walked back through the park in the late afternoon sunlight and boarded the ship just in time for our departure at 6:30PM.

We enjoyed the “port talk” in the lounge once again with Program Director Nancy as she discussed the options for the next day’s excursions.  

Something I haven’t mentioned about Abigail and Amelia is their commitment to making sure that they always arrived at the restaurant dining room early enough before dinner that they could save a table for our little group of six.  They were always there when we arrived, right at the perfect table, located portside by a big window.  The table was one for six people only, and when Deb and I arrived, and when Rick and Rosemarie arrived, we always were welcome at “our” table.  

Maybe I don’t remember what we ate very often because the conversation was so much fun as we shared the day’s experiences and talked about our lives and families.  I was extremely grateful for these great cruise buddies.  They added a lot to our experience.