The story of Bamberg Cathedral

Within these walls lie the only imperial couple ever canonised, Henry II and his wife Kunigunde, and the only papal grave in Germany and north of the Alps, that of Pope Clement II. Henry founded the cathedral in 1002, and it was consecrated in 1012. After the first two cathedrals burned down in the 11th and 12th centuries, the present late Romanesque building with its four great towers rose in the 13th century. Look for the marble tomb of the founding couple, regarded as a masterpiece by Tilman Riemenschneider and carved between 1499 and 1513. Then find the famous Bamberg Horseman, an equestrian statue that possibly depicts the Hungarian king Stephen I. It most likely dates from 1225 to 1237 and is the first of its kind since antiquity.

Behind it all lies a personal story: Henry gave Bamberg to Kunigunde as a wedding gift, and as the couple had no children, he founded a diocese here in 1007.