| Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier * | |
|---|---|
| Country | Germany |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iii, iv, vi |
| Reference | 367 |
| Region ** | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1986 (10th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO |
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The Cathedral of Saint Peter (German: Trierer Dom) is a church in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the oldest cathedral in the country. The edifice is notable for its extremely long life span under multiple different eras each contributing some elements to its design, including the center of the main chapel being made of Roman brick laid under the direction of Saint Helen, resulting in a cathedral added on to gradually rather than rebuilt in different eras. Its dimensions, 112.5 by 41 m, make it the largest church structure in Trier. Since 1986 it has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
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The structure is raised upon the foundations of Roman buildings of Augusta Treverorum. Following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine the Bishop Maximin of Trier (329-346) coordinated the construction of the grandest ensemble of ecclesiastical structures in the West outside Rome: on a groundplan four times the area of the present cathedral no less than four basilicas, a baptistery and outbuildings were constructed; the four piers of the crossing formed the nucleus of the present structure.
The fourth century structure was left in ruins by the Franks and rebuilt. Normans destroyed the structure again in 882. Under Bishop Egbert the Dom was restored once more.
The West front in five symmetrical sections remains typical of Romanesque architecture under the Salian emperors. The West end choir, with its apsidal semi-cylinder expressed on the exterior façade, was completed in 1196. The interior is of three Romanesque naves with Gothic vaulting, and a Baroque chapel for the relic of the Seamless robe of Jesus, recovered from the interior of the high altar in 1512, complete the interior.
The Latin inscription above the clock on the tower reads "NESCITIS QVA HORA DOMINVS VENIET" ("You do not know what time the Lord is coming").