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The misericords and history of Magdeburg Cathedral,

Cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice

(Dom zu Magdeburg St. Mauritius und Katharina).

Magdeburg Dom has forty two misericords.

Click to launch a description of the misericords of Magdeburg Cathedral

Please click on the thumbnails for larger images.

History of Magdeburg Dom.

There have been churches at the site of Magdeburg Dom since September 21st 937 - nice to be accurate - when the abbey of St Maurice (St Moritz) was founded by King Otto the First.  In 955 AD after the successful battle of Lechfeld, Otto decreed that the abbey church should be upgraded to cathedral status.  The cathedral was then re-build in the Romanesque style.  In 962, King Otto was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.  In 968 Emperor Otto again up-rated the status to archdiocese and installed Archbishop Adalbert von Trier.  Magdeburg was fin the far east of Otto’s domain, as Otto had plans to bring Christianity to what is now Slovakia.

On Good Friday, 1207, a citywide fire destroyed most of the city and all but the southern wing of the cathedral cloisters.  The archbishop decided to re-build completely - he pulled down all of the existing walls (except for the southern cloister range).  Building of the new cathedral started in 1209, utilizing stone from an imperial palace that had stood in near the west entrance and had also been destroyed by the fire of 1207. The building was constructed in the early Gothic style, however, the local craftsmen were unused to the techniques, and therefore, used some Romanesque techniques kludged to look Gothic.  Over the next 30 years the craftsmen learnt the techniques and you can see as you move west from the choir you can see change in styles.  From 1274 to 1363 the nave was extended until the cathedral had an overall length of 120m, however, in 1325 there was an hiatus in building, when the locals revolted against the draconian taxes (including, according to legend, a tax on beer) which were imposed by the archbishop - the result was that the archbishop was murdered.  The Catholic authorities put the Magdeburg population under “ban” until the locals had built 5 atonement altars, construction then recommenced.  Although not proven, the misericords probably date from this building phase.

The cathedral was formally opened in 1363, amongst a week long festival.  Construction then stopped until 1477, when the two towers were built; these took until 1520 to complete.

The Protestant reformation is said to have started on All Hallows day, in 1517, when Martin Luther published his treatise, and by 1524 he had come to Magdeburg to preach.  Some of the smaller churches converted to Protestantism soon after.  In 1567, after the death of its unpopular archbishop, the Magdeburg cathedral followed suit.  

In  1631, during the 30 years war with (Catholic) Sweden, Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly, raided Magdeburg and killed 80% of its 20,000 population.  The remaining 4000 took refuge in the cathedral; the priests begged Johan Tzerclaes to spare the people.  The cathedral was then re-converted to Catholicism, but was heavily looted and vandalized by the departing Swedes.

Napoleon was given Magdeburg in 1806, and as happened with Cologne Cathedral it was used for warehousing and stabling.  The French occupation lasted until 1814.  Frederick William III of Prussia financed much needed restoration between 1826 and 1834.  All of the glass was replaced in 1900.  

Heavy bombing during WWII caused the loss of most of the glass and  firebombing in January 1945 caused much damage including one wall, the organ and 14 of the 56 misericords, thankfully 42 of the misericords still survive.  After the war, Magdeburg fell under the aegis of the communist German Democratic Republic, which, as did all communist states, frowned upon religion, however, local feeling was so strong that the cathedral was repaired and re-opened in 1955.  Major reconstruction work started in 1983 under the auspices of the GDR government, which is ongoing under the unified government.  A new organ was installed in 2008.

Although the cathedral does not, as of April 2009 have its own website, you may find the Magdeburg City site useful.

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