Würzburg Cathedral is a massive Romanesque basilica, the fourth largest Romanesque church in Germany, built from 1040 to 1225 on the site of the earlier cathedral in which the Irish missionary Kilian was venerated. The exterior is monumental — four heavy towers, thick stone walls — while the interior is unexpectedly rich, layered with centuries of art and furniture from Gothic through baroque. The episcopal tombs in the nave are particularly fine, including several by Riemenschneider.
The cathedral was almost completely destroyed in the 1945 bombing and reconstructed in the 1960s in a simplified form. The rebuilt interior is plainer than the pre-war original, but the overall structure is faithful to the Romanesque proportions. The crypt beneath the high altar contains the relics of St. Kilian. The adjacent Neumünster collegiate church, built over the site of Kilian's martyrdom, is also worth a look for its ornate baroque interior.