Münster Cathedral (St Paulus Dom)

The Dom is the largest and most important building in Münster — a Gothic cathedral of serious scale, its twin west towers (57 and 55 metres) visible from much of the city centre. Construction of the current structure began in 1225 and the building was consecrated in 1264, though the facade with its remarkable porch has older Romanesque elements incorporated from the earlier cathedral that preceded it.

The interior holds several things worth seeking out. The treasury (Domkammer) contains medieval goldsmithing, reliquaries, and vestments of high quality — one of the better cathedral treasuries in Westphalia. The tomb of Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen, beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, is here; von Galen was the "Lion of Münster" who publicly preached against Nazi euthanasia programmes during the war, an act of considerable personal courage. The cloister, connecting the cathedral to the surrounding buildings, is quiet and worth a slow walk.

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The astronomical clock on the cathedral's south wall, installed in 1540, performs a daily spectacle at noon: a mechanical carillon plays, figures of the Magi circle the Virgin, and a rooster crows three times. The clock was a deliberate act of defiance — it was installed just five years after the city was recaptured from the Anabaptists who had banned all music and ornamentation. The clock said, in stone and bronze: the church is back.

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